


Piece by Piece

by SirenAlpha



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Always-a-girl!Stiles, Eventual Sterek, F/M, Fem!Stiles - Freeform, Fix It Fic, Gen, Slow Burn, canon divergence - season 3A, summer between season 2 and 3A
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 46
Words: 57,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenAlpha/pseuds/SirenAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the kanima, things didn't fit together again properly for Stiles. Scott had summer school, and she had information to give Derek. Somehow that translated into her helping Derek and Isaac survive a new threat and rebuild the pack along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those 'I didn't find it so I wrote it' stories. I wanted to put a little emphasis on girl!Stiles and her relationship with everyone else. I was also really unhappy about how season 2 transitioned into 3 because there was no explanation for how Derek and Isaac ended up looking for Erica and Boyd when they knew that they were leaving, not that they got caught. Stiles was the one who knew they had been caught, but he didn't explicitly tell anyone what happened, and only told Lydia that he was hurt in order to hurt Scott. Basically, communication had to have happened, but the show never showed it. That's how I decided where to start.

“Isaac,” Stiles called out, jogging up to him.

“What?” he snapped rounding on her.

She backed up a step and held up her hands. “I’m not here to bother you. I just want to ask a simple question.”

Isaac did one of those haughty glances aside before taking a step towards her. “When is it ever simple, Stiles?”

“I swear this one’s easy so can I ask it?”

“Fine,”

“Where’re Boyd and Erica?”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “They left like a month ago. Aren’t you usually up on this kind of stuff?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m asking,” Stiles said with the air of someone tolerating ignorance. “And what do you mean they left?”

“They left,” he said, making a motion towards the door. “For another pack.”

“Exactly when did this happen?” Stiles asked, squinting at him. She had a pretty clear memory of Boyd and Erica strung up and not running anywhere.

“The night we beat the kanima,” Isaac said, speech slowing and his eyes narrowing.

“Well shit then I should have talked to your earlier and not on the last day of school,”

“Stiles, what do you know about it?”

“They didn’t leave that night. They should have gone back to Derek,” she said, running a hand over her head.

“They didn’t leave? Why not?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Because they couldn’t,”

“Couldn’t? Stiles, what happened?”

Stiles raised her hands, about to bullshit her way into giving him the bare minimum of information, but she froze glancing at the students still moving around them. “So you haven’t heard from them at all or anything?”

“No,” he snapped. “If something’s happened to them…what do you know about it?”

“Honestly? Not that much,” she said, taking a step back.

“Then tell me what you do know then,”

“Okay,” Stiles said, breathing deep and letting it out harshly. “But not here.”

“Okay, we’ll go to Derek’s then,” Isaac said with a shrug.

“What? No,” she said, holding up her hands and shaking her head.

“Yes, come on,” Isaac said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re taking your car.”

“Alright, alright,” she said, smacking his hand off her shoulder. She glanced around, checking for Scott, and began walking when she didn’t see him. He had told her that Allison was moving away after school ended, and well, that’s what Allison did to him.

She kept a wary eye out for Isaac as they walked to her jeep. He hadn’t hurt her outright, but she still felt a little iffy about him. They climbed into the jeep, and Stiles started driving towards the Hale house.

“Where are you going?” Isaac asked.

“To his house,” Stiles responded, giving him a weird look.

“He’s not at the Hale house,”

“Then where is he?”

“An apartment downtown,”

“Wait, he actually got himself a real place?” she asked, nearly about to laugh.

Isaac shot her a flat look. “Yes.”

Stiles’ smile wilted. “Okay, how ‘bout you give me some directions then.”

Isaac proceeded to tell her which direction to go at each intersection.

“This is it,” Isaac announced, guiding her to park in the lot of a towering, dark, old brick building.

“This is it?” she asked, gesturing to it with her free hand.

“Yeah,” he said, getting out of the car.

“Okay,” she said warily, getting out after him. She made sure to lock her car before silently following Isaac up to the apartment. She could remember a lot of bad horror stories about werewolves and teen girls, but usually the girl didn’t know the werewolves beforehand.

Isaac didn’t even knock when they reached the door, and Derek pulled the door open for them. “What are you doing here, Stiles?”

Stiles expected Isaac to explain, but he just gave her a side glance before turning back to Derek. “I came to talk about Erica and Boyd.”

Derek seemed surprised. “What about them?”

“Isaac said that you thought they left for another pack, but I don’t think they did,”

“And why is that?”

She looked down the hallway outside of the apartment despite not having heard or seen anyone else in the entire building. She sighed and ran the tips of her fingers over the still healing bruise on her cheek bone. “I saw them in the Argent’s house.”

Derek pushed the door open further and gestured to the inside of the apartment with his head. “Get in.”

Isaac motioned for her to go first, and she tentatively stepped over the threshold. Derek shut the door behind them and rounded on her. “Exactly what did you see in the Argent house?”

“Erica and Boyd,” she said, struggling to keep her voice from wavering. “They were strung up with live wires.”

“And then what?”

Stiles held out her hands. “Allison told me they got released. They should have gone back to you.”

“No, they wanted to leave. They wouldn’t have come back,”

“Yeah, but,” she licked her lips and shuffled her feet. “I don’t think they could have run. Did you tell them Gerard and the kanima were gone?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t respond,”

“And you didn’t think why they might not have responded?”

“I thought they were cutting ties,”

“Yeah, but Beacon Hills is still their home, and they have family here. With Gerard and the kanima gone what reason would they have to stay away if there wasn’t anything to stop them?”

“So you think someone stopped them,” Isaac said, turning to Derek.

Derek grimaced.

“And you look like you know who might have stopped them,” Stiles said, facing Derek.

Derek and Isaac shared a look. Derek sighed and turned to Stiles. “Not long after that lacrosse game, a pack of alphas marked the door to my old house. It’s possible they could have taken Erica and Boyd.”

“What? A pack, like a whole packful of alphas?”

“Yes, Stiles, that’s generally what a pack of alphas means,”

Stiles squinted at him. “Have they said anything then? Like a ransom or why they’re even here?”

“No, just a mark,”

“That’s shitty of them. They’re pretty bad villains, I mean seriously, who doesn’t make demands?”

“Stiles,” Derek said in warning. “We’re supposed to work for the information.”

“Okay, that’s just petty,”

Derek glared at her.

“It’s true. So what does that leave us if they haven’t given us any imformation?”

“They may not actually have Erica and Boyd,” Isaac said.

“Or they killed Erica and Boyd, and that’s why there’s no ransom,” Derek said.

Stiles wrinkled her nose. “Actually, I don’t think so. The first mark on your door was a scare tactic right? To tell you you weren’t even safe at home.”

Derek rolled his eyes, but he nodded. “So if they’re trying to get to you,” Stiles continued. “Wouldn’t it be best if they told you that they killed them? It’d actually be best if they killed them right in front of you, but they haven’t. If Boyd and Erica are dead, it’s not because of the alpha pack.”

“It’s a little scary you even thought of that,” Isaac said.

“I’m a cop’s kid, and I’ve watched a lot of crime shows,” Stiles said with a shrug.

“Then what’s the last option? The alpha pack does have Erica and Boyd, but they’re keeping them for something?” Derek asked.

“Not for something, from you,” Stiles said, tucking her hands into her pockets. “Maybe you’re just meant to prove yourself by getting them back.”

“We should probably find out if the alpha pack has them in the first place. We’ll track them from the Argent house.”

“Cool, I will head out then,” she said, heading for the door. “Good luck on your epic quest.”

“Stiles, why were you in the Argent house that night?”

“Why do you think?” Stiles snapped.

“They strung you up, too?” Isaac asked, eyes wide.

“No, but that might have been better than the beating I got,” she said, her voice straining. She ran her hand over the cheekbone that had gotten bruised the worst.

“Why? They don’t hunt humans.”

“I don’t know ‘cause Gerard couldn’t get Scott.”

“I should have let Scott and Isaac find you.”

“It’s fine,” she said, waving it away. “Gerard was the priority. Good luck finding Erica and Boyd.”

“Stiles,” Derek said, stepping towards her.

“Bye,” she said, pulling the door open and exiting the apartment. It took her a minute to start the car, but she made her way back home. Once she parked in her driveway and shut off the engine, she dropped her head onto the steering wheel.

She couldn’t believe she had told Derek about that night before she’d even worked up the courage to consider telling Scott the truth. Then again, Scott hadn’t ever even thought to ask her about the bruises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right now, the story seems kind of heavy, but it does lighten up. Though, it probably will get heavy again when I get around to season 3.


	2. Pizza Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the story starts getting lighter, down at the end. Hope you enjoy.

“Stiles,”

She turned around at the sound of her name, but didn’t see anyone she recognized.

“Over here,”

She turned and saw Isaac walking towards her. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Walking,” she said, really looking at the buildings and noticing that she had reached the edge of downtown. “I was bored.”

“We should talk,”

“While I’m totally on board with that, can we get some food? I’ve been smelling pizza for the last five minutes and now I want some.”

“Fine,” Isaac said, checking his phone. “It’s dinner time anyways. Let’s just pick up a couple of pizzas then head back to the apartment.”

“A couple?”

“Me and Derek could probably eat a pizza each. How much do you want?”

“Three slices is like the ideal amount of pizza, but they don’t really sell them like that, so I think I’m just gonna take half.”

“Two medium pizzas should be enough then. You can pay for yours and I’ll pay for ours,”

“Deal, lets go,”

Isaac led her into the pizza joint which thankfully had a place to order pizza to go. They got in line. “What do you want on your half?” Isaac asked.

“Huh?” Stiles looked up from counting out enough cash to cover half a medium pizza. “I want vegetarian.”

He made a disgusted face. “Who puts vegetables on pizza?”

“I do,”

She rolled her eyes when he placed the order and had all the rest of the pizza be covered in sausage and pepperoni. He handed the cash over to the employee, and Stiles handed her cash to him.

“This feels weird,” she commented as they took seats to wait. “Like we should be fighting something and not just calmly getting pizza.”

“Maybe, but I’m totally okay with this being a new pattern,” he said, checking his phone again.

“Yeah, no complaints about the lack of deaths and mayhem. We are going to be talking about Boyd and Erica though, aren’t we?”

He shifted his weight. “Yeah, when we get back to the apartment.”

“Great,” Stiles said, leaning back in her seat.

Isac shrugged. “We don’t have any other choice. Where’s Scott? I thought he’d be all over this.”

“I haven’t seen him since the end of school.”

“Really? But you’re always together.”

Stiles shook her head and pressed her lips together. She couldn’t tell him her ability to talk to Scott had been compromised by Gerard. She didn’t want to admit that the old man had won any part of their battle with him.

“So does he know anything?” Isaac asked.

“Nope,” she answered, popping the ‘p.’ “Scott knows nothing.”

Isaac made a face. “You and Derek can sort him out then.”

“That’ll be a fantastic conversation,” Stiles said, starting to bite on her fingernails.

“I know,” he said with a smile. “I’ll make sure to bring popcorn.”

She gave him a look. “You must be totally out of entertainment then because I am not talking with Derek about Scott.”  

“If you say so,” he said, smirking. She sneered back. He didn’t get a chance to respond as their order was called. He collected the pizzas, and Stiles followed him as he lead the way to Derek’s apartment.

“Wait a second, does Derek know I’m coming?” she asked, rounding on Isaac. “Did he tell you to find and collect me?”

“He said to keep an eye out for you,” he admitted easily enough. “I don’t think he’ll be expecting pizza though.”

“Why?”

“Because he tries to cook all the time?”

“Not the pizza,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, that, isn’t it obvious?” he said before sighing. “You’re a hell of a lot better with us than against us.”

“I’ll definitely take that as a compliment.”

“You’re annoying as shit sometimes, but you’re not the pain in the ass Scott can be, and you’re more entertaining.”

“Are you telling me I’m a sidekick?”

He shook his head as he opened the door into the apartment building. “No, I’m saying that I want you to work with us.”

“In finding Erica and Boyd?”

He paused on the landing above her. “Yes.”

“I guess. I’m not doing anything else,” she said, trying to control the beat of her heart. A group called an alpha pack didn’t sound like something you should mess with, but then so does a group calling themselves hunters.

“Tell Derek then.”

“Okay,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Derek opened the door to the apartment when they arrived at the entrance. “Good, you found Stiles.”

Derek moved aside to let them in and shut the door behind them.

“I even brought pizza as a bonus,” Isaac said, raising the pizza high before setting in on the coffee table.

“That’s fine,” Derek said, coming to stand beside Stiles.

“So what did you need me for?” she asked him.

“We followed Erica and Boyd’s trail from my old house to where the Argents picked them up,” he explained as Isaac began eating pizza. “We followed that to the Argent House and found just Erica’s and Boyd’s trails again. It cut off towards the middle of the preserve. Whoever picked them up knew how to thoroughly cover their trail. It was most likely the alpha pack, but we have no way of knowing if they’re still in town or not until they leave another mark or message.”

“Did you just give me an update? Seriously?” Stiles asked, rearing back in surprise.

“Are you complaining bout it?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Not at all. That was great. I’m proud of you for sharing,” she said, nodding overenthusiastically. “But I don’t really have any news for you so I’m going to eat pizza.”

She sat down on the couch a little over a foot away from Isaac. She pulled out a slice of her vegetarian pizza. It still had some warmth to it. “Hey, Stiles,” Isaac asked as Derek reached for a pizza slice. “Was it true that you and Scott dated last year?”

“What?” she spluttered, surprised that Derek also looked interested in hearing the answer. “No, Scott’s not even attractive. I’ve had this conversation with him.”

“Really?” Derek asked as he stood with his pizza. “I was going to say that it would explain a lot, but I guess not.”

“It does not. I could never date Scott,” she said, holding up her hand. “I can’t get passed his jaw line.”

Isaac started laughing and kindly put his hand over his mouth because he still had chewed up pizza in it. “His jaw is why you won’t date him?”

“I just said that,”

He began cackling in earnest, hunching over himself. “You’re so picky,” Derek told her.

“He also hasn’t watched Star Wars. Or the extended version of Lord of the Rings. It’s just not acceptable,” she said, holding up her hands and nearly losing the toppings off her pizza.

“Yes, because that’s basically required reading to be part of this generation,” Derek said, raising his eyebrows.

“Exactly,” she said, biting off the toppings before she lost them.

Derek rolled his eyes, and Isaac started to control his laughter. “Oh man, Stiles,” Isaac said. “You’re on a completely different level of nerd from Scott.”

“Thank you,”

“I don’t think that’s a compliment,” Derek said, moving away with his pizza.

“It totally is!” she shouted after him then turned to Isaac. “It is right?”

“Sure,” he said, beginning to laugh again.


	3. Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are going to be rather short from now on. It's titled the way it is for a reason.

“Are you seriously trying to tell me nothing tastes different since you became a werewolf?” she asked, giving Isaac a disbelieving look.

“It does, a little bit, but I’ve gotten used to it. I can’t really compare them anymore,” he said, shrugging and piling more takeout Chinese food into his mouth.

She turned to Derek. “You’re no help ‘cause you’ve always been a wolf.”

“Stiles, eat your food,” he said, glaring at her from the other side of the coffee table.

She stuck her tongue out at him. He didn’t look impressed. Then he looked towards the door, and Isaac followed his gaze.

“Are you expecting someone?” Stiles asked.

“It’s Peter,” Isaac explained, frowning as he turned back to look at her.

She heard a knock on the door. “I told you not to come during dinner,” Derek said loudly as he got up from his chair.

He pulled open the door and Peter shrugged. “I have news.”

Isaac had told Stiles that Peter had come back, but she hadn’t seen him before. She had not prepared as much as she thought she had. She tightened her grip on her chopsticks.

“And what was so important you had to interrupt our meal?” Derek asked, crossing his arms.

“I finished the section of the city you wanted me to look in,” Peter said, smiling slyly. His eyes flicked from Derek to settle on Stiles, and she swallowed thickly.

“And?” Derek pressed, drawing Peter’s eyes back to him.

“They’re not there. No sign of the betas, no scent of an alpha,” he answered.

“Fine, but that could have waited until morning. Move on to the next section whenever you feel inclined to,” Derek said, taking a step forward. “Don’t interrupt dinner again.”

“But you haven’t told me which section is next,” Peter said, not taking a step back.

“Whichever part of downtown you’d like,” Derek said, throwing out his hands.

“New rule?” Isaac asked before Peter could continue.

“What rule?” Peter asked.

Derek turned back to them, eyebrows raised. Isaac pointed to Stiles. “Yes, new rule,” Derek said, grinning before turning back to Peter. “You’re not allowed in if Stiles is here.”

“Why not? I haven’t done anything to her,”

“Then this will make sure it stays that way otherwise I’ll let her poke your eyes out with the dirty chopsticks,”

“That seems like an awful rude thing to do to guests,”

“Yes, but then maybe you should have considered that when you decided coming back from the dead was a good idea,”

“Are you still upset about that,” Peter asked, holding up his hands. “Are we forgetting who killed who here?”

“What was that?” Derek asked, moving past Peter to the front door. “I couldn’t hear you over the six feet of dirt covering your mouth.”

Isaac snorted, and Peter shot him a glare. “Yes, very funny, I see your experiences haven’t taken away your sense of humor,” Peter said grouchily, finally exiting.

Derek shut the door on him before he could say anything else. “Stiles feel free to come over whenever you like.”

“Yes,” Isaac agreed then shrugged. “We’re actually not usually here during the day because of looking for Erica and Boyd, but dinner time is good. Also, Saturdays, Saturdays could be very good. It will help Derek decide that we can take them off from looking.”

“Don’t you want to find them?” Derek asked as he picked up his food before sitting down again.

“Yes, but I need some time off or else I won’t do a very good job,”

Derek ate a bite out of a pot sticker. “I’ll think about it.”

Stiles released her chop sticks. “I think I can be over often. I’m not really doing anything else. I’ve already been over like four times, and Dad’s cool with it.”

“Five actually, this is six,” Derek said.

“Were you counting?”

“My bank account is,”

“Dude, we’ve been getting cheap take out this whole time,”

“It adds up,”

“Then start making real food,”

He looked at her a moment. “That is a better idea. I’ll need a new fridge first.”

“And a new stove,” Isaac said, “I tested the burners, two are dead.”

“Is your kitchen just complete crap?”

“You have no idea. Like the only thing worth keeping is the wood floors. It’s not like it’s moldy or gross or anything cause I could have smelled that. It’s just butt ugly and completely non functional.”

Stiles made a face. “Explains the take out.”

“Yeah, the main bath was the first priority. Me and Derek just got it done,”

“Is it nice now?”

“No,”

“Nice choice in apartment Derek,” Stiles said as he got up to throw out the takeout carton.

“Got it for the space not the style,” Derek called back.

“Worth it,” Isaac added, holding up his hand.

“Whatever, it’s your place,”


	4. The Apartment's Worth

“It’s unlocked,” Isaac called out from the other side of the door.

Stiles turned the door knob, and the door easily swung back. No one was in the main room of the apartment. “Isaac?” she called out as she walked in.

“Over here, in the kitchen,” he answered, and she followed his voice.

He was standing just to the side of the entryway into the kitchen holding one end of a tape measure. Derek held the other end and stood on the far side of the kitchen writing down the measurement. “Whoa, what are you doing?” Stiles asked and pointed towards the cabinets. “Are those real?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Isaac said with a sigh. “They’re literally puke yellow cabinets.”

Stiles started laughing. “No way, why did you pick this place to rent again?”

“I bought it, actually, which is why we can make changes,” Derek shrugged. “Good space, good floors, and good view once we get the windows clean.”

“I don’t know, seems like a lot of work.”

“It’s not that bad,” Isaac said with a shrug. “It’s kinda nice working on it, and it’s great once you get it done.”

“I wouldn’t know. Dad likes doing all the work on our house.”

“Is he afraid you’ll fall off the roof?” Isaac asked, grinning.

“Hey, I would not fall off the roof. Beside we got a new roof like two years ago. The problem is that my shower drain takes hair about as well as a baby trying to eat and the dishwasher which only like half washes.”

“Still doing better than our poor stove,” Isaac said, patting the counter.

“Yeah, my cabinets also aren’t puke yellow,” Stiles shook her head. “I can’t keep looking at it.”

“It’s a good thing we’re replacing them then,”

“And I think we can squeeze by with the mid-range cabinets so long as we keep it to the one wall,” Derek said, holding up the note pad he had been using to make notes. “Even if an island would be nice.”

“We do have a lot of counter space as is,” Isaac said, sliding his hand along until he reached the sink.

“Are you keeping the counter?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah, it’s granite and it contrasts with the floor,” he answered, rolling his eyes.

“Maybe if the floor wasn’t completely covered in dirt,” she said, toeing the floor.

“If you’re not going to help, get out,” Derek said, glaring at them, but looking very unthreatening holding up a tape measure.

“We can go do something fun then,” Isaac said, moving away from the counter. “Come on, Stiles.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked as she followed him out.

“I don’t know, I thought you would have an idea.”

“I don’t know, I thought we were just eating dinner.”

“Hey Derek,” Isaac called out. “Can we order pizza?”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to shout,” Derek said in response.

“Okay,” Isaac continued on loudly. “Sausage and pepperoni?”

“Yes,” Derek said, sounding distracted.

“Veggie for me,” Stiles said, smiling at him.

“No vegetables on pizza,” Isaac complained again. “Get like cheese.”

“What about ham and pineapple?”

“Fine,” he grumbled, pulling out his phone.

Stiles laughed. “You have pizza on speed deal.”

“It’s a very important number.”

“Yeah, without a working kitchen it is.”

Isaac made the call for the pizza within five minutes even with Stiles attempting to make horrible dying noises in the background. “Stop,” Isaac said, trying to bat her away. “We’ll never be able to get pizza from there again.”

“Sure we will,” Stiles said.

“Yeah, but we’re still going to have to go down to the lobby to pick it up,”

“Ugh, you’re like twenty floors up though,”

“But, we can watch for him coming,” Isaac said, smiling.

“How? Your windows are basically as grimy as they get,” she said, gesturing to the wall of windows too dirty to see much through.

“True, but come on,” he said, leading her to the edge of the windows.

“Where does that go?” she asked, pointing to a metal door with peeling brown paint.

“Where we’re going,” he answered, tugging it open with a screech. He guided her out onto a fairly wide balcony that spanned the entire front of the apartment. As part of a top floor apartment, it had an amazing view over all of Beacon Hills.   

“I would take puke yellow cabinets for this,” Stiles said, moving towards the railing. “Is this structurally sound?”

“Yeah, the whole thing is safe. The apartment building is totally fine, it’s just like the people who owned the top five floors just didn’t care what happened to their apartments and didn’t renovate them or anything,” Isaac said, waving a hand back towards their apartment.

“The people who sold you this place?” she asked. “Did you buy all five floors?”

“Nope, just the top floor. You could hear the new owners renovating below us until they put in the good sound proofing stuff,” he said, leaning on the railing. “But they don’t have balconies like us.”

“Yeah, I think it was kinda worth it now,” she said, tapping her hands on the railing. “Like I’m pretty sure I can see my house from here.”

“It’s totally worth it,” he said, nodding. “I like being so high up from the ground and there’s so much space. Look at this.”

He turned sideways and held his arms out. He couldn’t reach both the wall and the railing with his hands. “Erica would love it once we got like the windows clean. She’d set out like lounge chairs out here and be out for every sunset. I think Boyd would like it too. He just wouldn’t say unless you remembered to ask him.”

“Are they moving in or something?”

“No, they didn’t live with us before. They just spent a lot of time with us. It’s nicer being together. I don’t think they really got werewolf comfort at home,”

Stiles snorted. “Werewolf comfort?”

“You know, being pack and everybody getting it being a werewolf,”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Stiles said, nodding. “Scott didn’t.”

“Scott can build his own club tree house,” Isaac said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

Stiles laughed. “I don’t think he’ll be able to get it twenty stories up.”

“Probably not,” Isaac said, smirking. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not super plot moving, but neither was what I had before. At least I'm grounding the whole thing in town where other people actually seem to live there.  
> Hope you enjoyed.


	5. Heads Up

Stiles received a text from Isaac about an hour and half earlier than when she usually left to head over to the apartment asking for her to come over. She didn’t have anything to do otherwise. She grabbed her keys, wrote a note for her dad in case he came home before she did, and headed out. She didn’t see Isaac waiting for her in front of the building so she walked upstairs and assumed their door was open. She pushed the door open and didn’t immediately see anyone. She shut the door and wandered into the room.

“Isaac,” she whined when she found him sprawled across the entire length of the couch and leaving no room her.

“What? You didn’t get here quick enough.”

“Can’t you move?” she asked, bumping her knees against the edge of the couch.

“Never,” he insisted, grinning.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his shoulders and trying to pull him up.

“No,” he said, pressing himself down against the couch.

“Move,” she said, tugging.

“Nope,”

“I’ll give you a head rub if you let me sit,” she said cajolingly.

“A head rub?” he asked, and Stiles held up her hands and wiggled her fingers.

“Fine,” he said grumpily as he sat up.

She plopped down onto the couch. “You can lie back down if you want.”

“Alright,” he said warily and slowly lowered himself so that his head landed in her lap.

She dug her fingers through his thick hair and began to rub the tips of her fingers across his scalp. He immediately closed his eyes and began to relax. He brushed his hand against her arm. “This is awesome.”

“Glad you like it,” she said. She probably wasn’t able to get as much enjoyment out of it as he was, but the repetitive motion was soothing and kept her hands occupied. It helped that his hair was soft.

“Where’s Derek?” she asked.

“Probably still sniffing around,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t do it anymore today. It’s harder than you think trying to pick out scents. I feel like I rubbed the inside of my nose raw from sniffing so much.”

“I can’t imagine,” she said, toying with the ends of his hair for a moment. “Was it weird to get used to that? Having another sense get so strong?”

“Yeah, somewhat,” he said, twisting his lips and waving his hands around. “It was just like, getting new information from a different source. I can kinda tell people’s emotions from their heartbeat, how fast or hard it beats. I can kinda smell where people have been, and how they’ve been feeling. Actually, I’ve been talking to Derek about that a lot.”

“Really, what for?”

“We’re tracking Eric and Boyd by scent. I need to know how to do that,” he said and shrugged. “He’s better at it than I am, I can tell that much, but he’s not good at explaining it. Like, he’d be able to tell you where around the city I looked, but he wouldn’t be able to describe the scents that told him that. I don’t know how to smell like that, not on the little details.”

“It kinda makes sense,” she said, beginning to lightly use her nails against his scalp.

“How so?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“How do you tell someone how to see or describe a color?” she asked then shook her head. “You don’t, at least, not in English.”

“I guess that does make more sense. He _has_ always been this way,” he mumbled and closed his eyes. “It’s all just a little weird, and I’m just…tired, I guess.”

“You’re not falling asleep, are you?” she asked jokingly as she tugged lightly on his hair.

“No, don’t stop,” he said, smiling and pressing her hands back towards his head.

“I won’t,”

She continued until her fingertips became almost numb, and she began to pet his hair rather than rub his head. His eyes were closed and he was breathing rather deeply, but she couldn’t tell if he’d fallen asleep or not. She didn’t really care either way because she now felt ready to nod off herself.

“Derek’s coming,” he whispered, and she almost missed his words.

When she glanced up, the door open and Derek came into the loft. He gave them a weird look, but he continued on past them. “You both look ready to pass out.”

“I can’t,” she said, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand. “I probably have to go back home soon.”

“No,” Isaac argued sleepily, knocking his hand against her arm. “Stay.”

“What exactly did you do to him?” Derek asked, leaning over to look at his beta.

“I gave him a head rub,” she explained then ran her nails lightly over Isaac’s head, “Usually Scott’s asleep after five minutes. Why? Do you want one?”

Derek shook his head and pulled away. “Do you want any food before you go? We actually have left overs now that we’ve gotten the fridge in.”

“Not really, and I don’t have to leave just yet. Unless you want me to go,” she said, beginning to fuss with the ends of Isaac’s hair again.

“No, do the nails again,” Isaac whined, tapping her arm.

“So demanding,” she said, vigorously running her nails against his scalp as he asked.

“You can stay as long as you want,” Derek told her quietly, and he had left the room by the time she registered his words.

She stayed long enough for Derek to pull a chair up alongside the couch and begin to read. At that point, she figured her dad expected her to be home for the night. “Let me up, Isaac,” she said, tapping his shoulder.

“Okay,” he said, slowly sitting up. “Bye, Stiles.”

“Yeah, see you guys later,” she said, getting up and heading for the door.

“Be careful going home,” Derek said.

She turned back to him. “Yeah, will do.”

Taking the stairs down woke her up plenty for the drive home, and she found her dad had just about finished making dinner.


	6. Scott

Stiles showered twice. She hadn’t seen Scott since school, not to mention since she started hanging out with Isaac and Derek regularly. She didn’t think Scott would like it considering the kanima debacle. She didn’t want to fight with him.

She heard the doorbell ring and she ran down the stairs and nearly tripped over her own feet. She pulled open the door and smiled, seeing Scott on the other side. “Hey,” she said, stepping forward for a hug.

“Hey,” he returned, wrapping his arms around her. She held him tight and breathed in the smell of him. He pulled away, and she reluctantly let him go. He patted her on the shoulder. “How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been good,” she said, nodding and rolling her lower lip through her teeth. “It’s nice not having school or the supernatural to deal with.”

“Can’t say the same,” he said with a lopsided shrug. “Summer school is even worse than regular school.”

“Yeah, that sucks, dude,” she said, tucking her hands into her back pockets. “You can come on in.”

He passed her coming into the house, wandering slowly like it was his first time coming over and not his thousandth. She shut the front door, holding in a sigh.

“Looks awful clean for over a month of summer,” he commented as he walked into the living room.

“I haven’t spent all my time here,” she said before realizing that maybe she should have kept that to herself. Maybe she should have said that she had just gone on a cleaning spree.

“Oh, what’ve you been doing?” he asked as he took a seat on the couch. For the past two years she had spent almost all of her time with Scott. She had teammates and other people she considered friends, but summer had always been the low point of those relationships.

“Wandering around,” she said with a shrug. “Taking walks.”

He frowned and leaned forward. “You really think that’s alright?”

She scoffed. “Of course it’s alright. No kanima, nothing to worry about.”

It was alright because she still spent most of her time in the company of werewolves.

“If you say so,” Scott said, motioning for her to sit beside him. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” she said as she dropped down next to him. “What do you wanna do?”

“I don’t know. What did we do before werewolves?” he asked, running a hand through his hair and leaning back.

“Um, I don’t remember. It’s all like a blur of furry and fangs,” she said, using her fingers to mimic the shape of fangs near her mouth.

“I know,” he said laughing. “What did we do with ourselves? How much free time did we have?”

“Probably more than I knew what to do with,” she said, shrugging.

“There was school,” Scott listed, holding out a finger.

“Sports, that was like the one thing we did try to keep up with,” she added, rubbing her forehead with her thumb.

“Right, lacrosse, um, we weren’t dating anyone beforehand,” he pointed out, holding out another finger.

“True, but that was probably a good thing,”

“Yeah, there is no good way to explain that you’ve been turned into a werewolf,” he said, shaking his head.

“Considering how badly it went with Jackson, yeah I’d say so. I guess it is lucky you ended up dating Allison. At least we had her dad to back us up and verify that werewolves are a thing,” she said, pointing to him as she spoke.

“Aside from the fact that her dad wants to kill me,” he said sourly.

“I think he’s given up,” she said, shaking her head. “They did move away.”

“Can we not talk about that?” he asked, giving her a puppy style pout.

“Right, yeah, sure,” she said, giving him a nod while resituating herself on the couch. “So yeah, school and sports.”

“That sounds…” he trailed off, scrunching his face.

“Boring?” she suggested. “Empty?”

“Yeah, a little bit, but I swear we were doing more,” he said, frowning.

“I was chasing after Lydia and spending huge quantities of time on the internet and watching TV. I also spent a lot of time with you, and some time with dad,” she said with a shrug, wondering if she could calculate the hours she’d wasted staring after a red head who didn’t notice her or plugged into a computer. It seemed so pointless and meaningless in the aftermath of spending half a year dealing with the supernatural. It had kept her content, though. The pain of watching a character die on screen wasn’t the same as the shock of watching someone being gutted.

“Yeah, we haven’t really been spending much time together to just hang out. Sorry,” he said, giving puppy eyes again. At least being turned into a werewolf hadn’t increased his puppy-ness.

“It’s okay,” she said, the heaviness in her chest increasing. “You’ve got summer school stuff to work on.”

“You know you’re lying right?” he asked softly, looking over to her.

“Sorry,” she said, looking away and crossing her arms.

“Stiles,” he whined, wrapping his arms around her and leaning onto her.

“Get off, you’re heavy,” she complained, falling over onto the couch.

“No, you can’t not tell people when you’re having a problem,” he said, rubbing his chin against her shoulder. “I know what you’re like. I’m not gonna let you get away with it.”

“I’m fine,” she retorted. “Get off.”

“No, not until you’re better,” he said stubbornly, squeezing her tighter.

“You’re gonna squish me,” she warned him in a whiney tone and tapped his arm.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes,”

“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing to tell,”

“Yes there is, but you don’t have to tell me so long as you tell someone,” he said, releasing her and sitting up again.

“Air,” she said, breathing as deeply as she could.

“I’m not that heavy,” he said, poking her in the side and making her squeal.

“Are too, muscle is heavy,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her side.

“But really, though, Stiles, I’m going to be a better friend,” he told her seriously. “Things have settled down, everything will be better.”

The truth clung to the tip of her tongue: Boyd and Erica were kidnapped and missing, an alpha pack might be coming, and Gerard had kidnapped her and beaten her up. Scott alone couldn’t fix everything, and they didn’t have a great track record so far. Too many had died before they’d stopped Peter or Jackson. She forced herself to smile. “I believe you.”

He smiled back and didn’t tell her she lied.

* * *

 

An hour after Scott left, she stood in front of Derek’s apartment door. She lifted a hand to knock, but the door swung open before she could reach it. Derek stood there, looking at her questioningly. She had told them she wouldn’t be coming over. She opened her mouth to explain, and the usual flow of words didn’t come tumbling out. She didn’t have words to describe the toll of lying to the person she thought she could tell anything to. She shuffled her feet and tried to think of anything to say.

Derek moved away from the door, leaving the entry way open to her. She snapped her mouth shut and came inside. “Hey,” Isaac greeted from his spot on the couch. “You’re just in time. We’ve got bad Italian tonight.”

“Great,” she said, tension easing in her shoulders while the fatigue she’d been ignoring filtered up through her bones.

“Also, you should help me convince Derek to get a TV,” he added.

“We’re not getting a TV,” Derek said as he sat down beside the boy. “Not unless you wanna pay for cable.”

“I don’t need cable, I need a DVD player,” he responded, rolling his eyes.

“For what DVDs?” he asked, shooting Isaac a disbelieving look as he pulled an aluminum container filled with pasta towards him.

“The ones I will get from the library as soon as we have a TV,” he pointed out with the fork he had just grabbed.

“Someone still has to pay for it,”

“Actually, I have an extra TV, no DVD player though,” Stiles said as she walked over to the couch.

They both looked up at her disbelievingly, and she laughed. “It’s a long story, but mostly I missed the deadline for returning it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my disappointments with season 3A was that there was so much action that there wasn't anytime for Scott to actually follow through on his promise of being a better friend. So, I'm going to open up more opportunities for Scott to be the awesomesauce best friend he should have been.


	7. Light Bulb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a little short, but hopefully still good.

“What are you doing?”

Stiles lost her balance on Isaac’s shoulders and held onto the metal lampshade for support, body swinging forward while her feet miraculously remaining on the beta’s shoulders. She forced herself back into an upright position and ignored the frantic pounding of her heart, blessing Derek's preference for industiral strength interior design. “Fixing a light bulb,” she muttered as soon as she felt she could breathe again. “What’s it look like?”

“Like you’re going to hurt yourself. Why didn’t you get a ladder?” Derek asked as she heard him walk towards them. She focused on gingerly peeling her hands off the lamp without throwing herself off balance again.

“We didn’t find one,” Isaac explained.

“I could have gotten one,” he responded sourly.

“I would have been fine if you hadn’t startled me,” Stiles murmured to herself, feet above the conversation. She slowly unscrewed the dead light bulb.

“What are you doing?” Isaac asked, and she could feel him move his head.

There was a pause and Stiles could imagine Derek either shrugging his shoulders or rolling his eyes. “Preparing to play catch.”

“Here, catch the light bulb,” she said as she dropped it, pleased to hear it not shatter into a million pieces on the floor. “I’m not going to fall.”

“You almost just fell,” Derek pointed out, his glare apparent in his tone.

She gingerly pulled the light bulb out of her cargo short’s pocket.  “But I didn’t,” she said as she carefully began to screw the new light bulb in.

Isaac began chuckling, probably at Derek’s face. “Stop laughing, it’s moving your shoulders,” she chided him. “I’m almost done.”

She turned the light bulb as tightly as it would go. She looked down to see both Derek and Isaac watching, Isaac much more happily than Derek. “Alright, how do I get down?” she asked, keeping her hands on the lampshade.

Derek sighed and held his arms up towards her. “Just kneel down and grab my hands.”

She bent her knees and lowered herself a few inches. Her fingers were on the edge of the lampshade when she shook her head. “Nope, let’s not do that.”

“You’re literally a cat,” Isaac remarked, close to laughing again.

“Shut up,”

“You’ll be fine, Stiles. Just go slow,” Derek said, ignoring Isaac.

“Alright, alright,” she said, slowly pulling her hands away from the lampshade. “It’s a lot easier going up than it is down.”

She kneeled further down and reached out for Derek’s hands, desperately trying to keep her balance. She caught the edges of his fingers and he held his hands steady. “Alright, kneel down some, Isaac,” he commanded, watching Stiles.

She felt a little awkward holding onto his very warm hands, but was able to use them to help steady herself as Isaac lowered himself. “Can you jump now?” Derek asked, leaning away from her to give her room to judge the distance.

“Yeah, sure,” she said and jumped.

She landed heavily, and Derek helped steady her. “New rule,” he said, holding up her hands. “No humans above six feet.”

“Is that an ego thing? No one can be over your head?” she asked raising her eyebrows.

“No,” he said, gesturing to Isaac. “I’m pretty sure that’s not the issue here.”

Isaac chuckled, and Stiles turned around to glare at him. “Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands.

“Can I be over six feet if I get a ladder?” she asked, turning back to Derek to find him walking away. “Hey, where are you going?”

“Getting food,” he responded, turning back to her for a moment. “I’m not just going to let you talk your way into finding a loophole.”

“That is so mean,” she said, setting her hands on her hips. “Scott is nice enough to let me do that all the time.”

“Scott would, but I don’t think it’s his fault,” Isaac added.

“How so?”

“I’ve been in class with you before. Harris is like the only teacher that you haven’t managed to talk yourself out of trouble with. I’m like ninety percent sure it’s the reason you’re still alive actually. It’s like a super power or something,” he said with a grin.

“Hell yeah it is. I’m awesome like that. I balance out all you werewolves,” she said, raising her fists in a celebratory motion.

“Sure you do,” Isaac commented, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking towards the kitchen. “Let’s try and get Derek to make mac ‘n’ cheese.”

“What like Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese?” she asked.

“No, he knows how to make the homemade kind. It’s fantastic,” he promised, motioning with his head for her to follow him.

“Isaac, I’m not going to make you more mac ‘n’ cheese,” Derek called out.

“But Stiles hasn’t had it yet,” he countered.

“Yeah, I haven’t tried this wonderful mac ‘n’ cheese,” she said in stilted tone as she came into the kitchen, still deciding if she wanted to go along with Isaac’s plan. “Wait, you can actually cook? I feel like you wouldn’t be able to cook.”

“No, he can,” Isaac assured her, nodding his head.

 Derek pointed to Isaac and nodded.

“Alright, let’s bring on the mac ‘n’ cheese then,” she said, putting her hands on the counter.

Isaac grinned, and Derek shook his head as he got out the ingredients.  


	8. Methods

“Hey, glad you could come over now,” Isaac said as he led her up to the apartment, looking dirtier than normal and smelling a little funky.

“It’s fine. I was about to head over anyways,” she said with a shrug, eyeing the tracks he left on the floor. “What’s up?”

He ushered her in and shut the door before answering. “Can you tell me anything you think Derek might not tell me about Peter?”

“I have no idea how much Derek’s told you, but Peter’s an asshat. He tried to kill me, bit Scott, mauled Lydia, and he killed a bunch of other people, too. I mean, they murdered his family first, but he still killed them back. Why?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “Haven’t you already talked to him and stuff?”

“Oh, well, cause I think Derek’s gonna have us start working with him,” Isaac admitted, taking a half step back.

 “What exactly do you mean when you say you’re going to start working with him? Like I get him helping sniff around town for people cause that you can double check, but you just made it sound like you’re going to give him something that actually requires a level of responsibility.”

“Um, I think we’re going to start asking him for ideas,” he admitted quietly.

“No, just no, we spent like months trying to figure out who he was and how to kill him. He’s a bad guy, and does Derek not realize this? This is totally a bad idea,” she said, waving her arms around. “I get the family thing-,”

“Stiles,”

“But there is a limit-,”

“Stiles,”

“And Peter’s played hopscotch with it-,”

“Stiles!”

“What?!”

Isaac gestured to the door as it swung open to reveal Derek. She swallowed around the lump in her throat. Derek had more dirt on him than Isaac had, and he looked close to snarling.  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Stiles,” Derek said as he shut the door.

“What? It’s not like it’s new information,” she said, crossing her arms.

“We’re out of options though. We’re going to need whatever Peter can bring to the table,” he said, glowering down at her.

“But he doesn’t have any reason to keep you alive, and he doesn’t have any reason to help you,” she pointed out. “You could have a hundred and one betas, and I don’t think it’ll make a difference. Peter knows you, and you’re giving him an opportunity to know Isaac,”

“He’s too weak to make a move, and he can’t risk being on his own with an alpha pack nearby. I’ll be able to handle him. We’re out of options, and we’re running out of time,” he retorted.

“There’s always other options!” she shouted in frustration, throwing out her arms. “We don’t need to rely on him. None of us know how long he’ll stay weak.”

“What other options do we have, Stiles?” he snapped. “I can’t just trust that Erica and Boyd will be alive when we finally find them. It’s been two months already. Peter has ideas and for the moment, we’re going to have to use them. End of story. Isaac, I’m going to take the first shower.”

“Okay,” Isaac said, holding up his hands in a placating manner.  

Stiles glared at Derek as he left, hands clenched. Isaac took a seat on the couch and put his head in his hands. “I wish you guys wouldn’t yell,” he muttered.

Stiles froze. “Shit, Isaac, I’m sorry.”

He waved away her concern. “Just try not to do it again.”

“I won’t,”

She began to pace. She needed another idea, another option, anything. Her pace eventually slowed, and she sat down next to Isaac. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she motioned for him to move away and he did. Derek came back down with damp hair and clean clothes. Isaac cast a look between them as he got up from the couch, but he did leave to take a shower.

“I couldn’t think of any other options,” she admitted, pressing her knuckles to her lips.

Derek sat down beside her. “I don’t want to work with Peter either, but I need to find Erica and Boyd.”

“Well, we never agree on the methods anyways,” she said with a shrug.

“That is true,” he said, leaning back against the couch.

Isaac came down minutes later, looking surprised to see them sitting together in silence. “You guys worked it out?” he asked as he took a seat next to Stiles.

Stiles shrugged and Derek tilted his head. “Sort of.”

“Alright,” he said slowly. “Who’s up for a movie?”

“You got a DVD player?” she asked.

“Yeah, someone threw it out like a week ago. I think they upgraded to something better because it still works. I got a bunch of Disney movies from the library,” Isaac explained, getting up and moving towards the TV.

“Disney movies? Really?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“They all end pretty happy, and they’re not bad. How does “Treasure Planet” sound?” he asked, holding up the DVD.

“Sure, I’ve always thought that movie was underappreciated,” she said, kicking off her shoes and pulling her legs up onto the couch.

“Cool,” he said, and put the disc into the machine. He sat beside her again, but tucked up against her side.

“What? No more personal space?” she teased, tapping his side.

“Is it a problem?” he asked, shying away.

“Nah, it’s fine,” she said, resting her head against him.

He relaxed as the movie started. Stiles looked over to Derek, sitting almost a seat cushion’s length away from them. She turned herself a little and began to tap his thigh with one foot. He glared at her and trapped her foot beneath his hand. She wiggled her toes against his thigh and grinned at him. He ignored her, and she turned back to the movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to mention that the chapters are purposefully short. They're actually longer than I originally intended them to be . They might get longer when season 3A's plot comes in, but no guarantees.


	9. Conditioning

“Ready?” Scott asked.

“I’m going to regret this,” Stiles answered, putting her hands on her hips.

“It’ll be fun. I swear I’ll go normal speed. You’d have to do conditioning on your own without me anyways,” he told her with a perky tone and a smile to match.

“Ugh, don’t remind me that school’s about to start again,” she sighed.

“What are you complaining about?” he asked, tapping her on the arm. “I had to spend my summer doing schoolwork.”

“Ugh, stop saying the word,” she complained again.

“You’ll live. Now, we’ve got some running to do,” he said, moving into a jog.

She heaved one last sigh then ran to catch up to him.  She kept pace with him for only the first few minutes before falling behind him rather rapidly. “Scott, hold up a second,” she said, stopping entirely.

She braced herself on her knees, panting and trying to get her breath back. She heard Scott jog back to her. “You alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, but you are so not going human pace,” she said, standing up and wiping sweat off her face.

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic shrug and smile.

He tried to go slower, but if she tried to match his pace she ended up out of breath and far behind him anyways. “I think we’re done for today,” Stiles told him about three quarters of the way through their planned run time. “I just can’t run that fast for that long.”

“Okay, we can just walk back then,” he conceded, leading the way back to his house.

“Hey,” she said when she had enough breath to. “Remember when I used to be faster?”

“You were only faster because I had asthma,” Scott retorted. “I would have easily been able to beat you if I could breathe more often than not.”

“So? You’re only beating me now because you’re a werewolf,” she said, holding out her arms. “You don’t even need to be conditioning.”

“Thanks, I get it, Stiles,” he said, grumpily.

Stiles made a face. “What are you even upset about?”

Scott shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, rolling her eyes and picking up her pace. “No reason at all you get upset whenever I mention what you are.”

“I’m not upset,” he argued, tensing his shoulders.

“What? Just like you’re not a werewolf?” she asked, turning back to him.

He got as close to scowling as he could. “Stiles.”

“You can’t hate it that much if you keep shifting and using your abilities,” she said, turning away.

“You don’t get it,” Scott said, grabbing her arm and turning her back towards him.

“Get what? Tell me, Scott, what have I been missing?” she asked, wrenching her arm from his grip. “Running faster? Super healing? Claws? Girlfriends from the wrong family?”

“Stiles!”

“Well, tell me, what don’t I get?”

“It’s not easy. I can’t trust myself on the full moon. I don’t want to hurt anybody because of this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me, but I’m so worried that you or my mom is going to get hurt anyways.”

Stiles laughed. Scott pulled away slightly. She shook her head. “You didn’t even notice. I don’t need your protection, Scott. I need someone to talk to and you never come through.”

“Yes, I do,” he stubbornly argued.

“Yeah, you did, but not anymore. Not since you got bit. You can’t use turning into a werewolf as an excuse,”

“We’d been running around all the time together trying to defeat whatever was going around killing people,”

“Yeah, and you left me behind every time. You don’t talk to me anymore. You don’t know anything,”

“I’m talking to you now,”

“And it’s so late what difference does it make?” Stiles snapped. “Did you know I can barely sleep? Did you know my anxiety levels have been so fricking high since the kanima I always feel like I’m about to have a panic attack?”

“No, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, stepping in towards her.

“I’ve been telling you the whole fucking time,” she growled. “If you’d have stopped for a second to listen. I went to the fucking school counselor just to find somebody to talk to cause you were off doing whatever the fuck you wanted.”

“I wasn’t! I was trying to save people,”

“Is that what you’ve been doing all summer then?” she asked bitterly.

He froze and swallowed. “No, I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”  

“Stiles,” he said, following after her.

She shook her head again, resolutely ignoring him. She couldn’t yell at him with the lump that had plastered itself to the back of her throat. If she opened her mouth, she couldn’t be sure whether the truth or lies would start slipping out. She tried not to think about how he wouldn’t approve of those she’d sought comfort from in his absence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've toned down this argument a little in the rewriting process, but I left it without a proper conclusion. Overall, I think it's better for it.


	10. Veins

After a week of conditioning with Scott, the entirety of Stiles’ legs felt sore and they still hadn’t quite come to a conclusion of their argument. At least she kept up with him better and slept like a rock. “You’re so lucky you don’t have to condition for sports anymore,” she told Isaac as she leaned back against the couch.

“I’ve just got to do the opposite now. Tone things down,” he said with a shrug. “But, yeah, it is nice. I can’t believe school’s about to start again.”

“And I really don’t want to deal with it,” she said, rubbing the side of her face. 

“It sucks when summer’s over,” he agreed with a nod.

“Not even that though. So far, the track record is that we’re most likely to get attacked during the school year. After all the death and mayhem, schoolwork feels like a bunch of bullshit,” she said with a shrug.

“You are getting stressed again,” he commented.

“It’s kind of a constant state of being, and school is not helping,” she said, pointing a finger at him. “Nor is the fact that we haven’t found Erica and Boyd yet, or the alpha pack for that matter. I still can’t believe they haven’t contacted you at all.”

“I don’t know how it works,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hey Derek!” she called out.

“What, Stiles?” he asked grumpily, joining them from the kitchen with a plate with left overs piled on.

“How are you always eating?” she asked, distracted from her task.

“I get hungry, apparently always. Is there a problem?” he asked, raising his eyebrows like he was daring her to say yes.

“Not the point, but did you ever get any training?” she asked, leading forwards and resting her arms on her knees.

“What, like Boy Scouts?” he asked, sitting down at the end of the couch.

“They have Boy Scouts for werewolves?”

“No, that’s why I was asking what you meant by training,”

“I mean like preparation for dealing with any of this crap,” she said, waving her arms around.

“No, there were adults to take care of it.”

“Aren’t you an adult?”

He paused. “Yes, but I wasn’t when… well, my point is, I don’t even remember there being any issues when I was a kid. I hadn’t even met a bitten werewolf until Scott,” he admitted before digging into his meal.

“Really? I figured there would be more of them,” she said, frowning. “Is that okra?”

“Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?” he asked, purposefully eating another mouthful of the stuff.

“Nothing, it’s just gross and I can’t believe you just ate it,” she said, making an exaggeratedly disgusted face. “Anyways, it’s actually really unhelpful that you don’t have any training.”

“I’ve realized that, Stiles,” he said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like anyone knew this was going to happen. Laura…she didn’t even bite anybody.”

“That explains a lot,” Isaac murmured.

“Scott’s probably a better resource on being a bitten werewolf than I am,” he admitted without even attempting to hide his bitterness.

“Scott still doesn’t know there’s an alpha pack,” Stiles mentioned blandly.

“I thought you’d have told him by now,” Derek said, frowning.

“I don’t think he’s even aware that Boyd and Erica are gone even though he was all worked up about them when you bit them,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t know how to tell him anything.”

Derek didn’t say anything more and went back to his food.

“Hey, Stiles?” Isaac asked.

“What?”

“Can I give you a hug?”

She turned to look at him with a very confused expression. “Uh…sure.”

“Okay,” he said, wrapping his arms around her much more tentatively than either Scott or her dad did.

“I feel a little weird,” she commented when she began to feel lightheaded, and glanced down at Isaac’s arms. “Oh my God, why are there black things on your arms?”

“Sorry,” he said, pulling back immediately. “I wanted to see if I could take your pain away. I probably should have asked.”

“What?” she asked then turned to Derek. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Derek looked slightly surprised and shrugged. “Well, he’s not really wrong.”

“What is it?” she asked, pointing at Isaac’s arms with both of her index fingers.

“Deaton said that werewolves were able to take away other beings’ pain,” Isaac explained.

“Deaton told you and not Derek?” she asked, shooting Derek a suspicious glance.

“It’s not like I knew bitten werewolves could do it, too,” Derek muttered defensively.

“Um, they’re still werewolves,” Stiles countered.

“Yeah, but I figured that there had to be a difference between born werewolves and bitten ones. If it was going to be anything, it would be that,” he said, gesturing with his plate.

“That actually kind of makes sense,” she said, surprised and nodding.

“I know, it’s like I actually have reasons for the things I do,” he said, looking at her tight lipped.

“Okay, well, true, but that doesn’t do much when people don’t know them,” Stiles said, holding up her hands.

“It might also be nice if you told us things like that anyways,” Isaac added.

Derek frowned at Isaac then rolled his eyes and looked away. “So how does it work?” Stiles asked.

Derek tilted his head from side to side. “It is a pain reliever, but it doesn’t heal anything. It doesn’t remove any causes. With stress, it’s like meditating, and it helps relieve physical symptoms.”

“That’s not as weird as I thought it was going to be,” Stiles said, narrowing her eyes. “Still kinda weird cause that doesn’t seem like a werewolf type thing, but not as weird.”

Derek sighed and went back to his food.

“Can I still give you a hug?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, leaning towards him. “And you can do the black vein-y thing too if you want.”

“That’s not what it’s called,” Derek pointed out.

“What is it called then?” she asked.

“Does it matter?” Isaac asked, hugging her again and this time more tightly.

“Kinda,”

“It’s called pain transference,” Derek answered.

“Wait, you mean he takes on my pain when he does this?” she asked, pointing to his arms.

“It shouldn’t be as painful for him because it nullifies it some. It’s not the most accurate term,”

“I’m okay,” Isaac assured her, giving her a squeeze.

“Well, okay,” she said, slumping against him. She glanced over to Derek to see that he’d gone back to eating and wasn’t quite frowning anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a lot of headcanons at once. I just feel like I need more explanation than what canon has given us for a lot of things.


	11. Highlight

“Derek!” Isaac shouted from the kitchen.

“What?” Derek asked, not looking up from the map he and Stiles were going over.

“Did you eat the last of the beef and mushroom thing? I told you I was going to eat it,” Isaac said, edging towards whining.

“Ooh, beef and mushroom, sounds kinda impressive for you,” Stiles said, leaning her elbow onto the table and doing her best approximation of a smirk.

Derek rolled his eyes and shot a glare at her. “Sorry, Isaac.”

“Why do you keep eating everything?” Isaac complained, plodding over to the table to take a spot beside Stiles.

“I get hungry then I eat,” Derek responded with a shrug.

“Or maybe that’s just what he does instead of having non-scowl-y emotions,” Stiles supplied, leaning towards Isaac and quirking her eyebrows.

Isaac snickered. Derek kept a straight face and responded, “I’ll have you know it takes a lot of energy to scowl all the time.”

“Maybe you should try practicing other expressions then? Save some of that energy for more important things,” Stiles returned, grinning brightly.

“What could possibly be more important than assuring you that I’m not impressed?” he asked.

“I’ve done many impressive things,” she retorted, crossing her arms.

“Comebacks could use a little work,” he said, tilting his head. “You also haven’t finished explaining how you’re going to double check Peter’s info.”

“Right, well, maps,” she said, going back to their previous conversation before Isaac had interrupted. “We’ve got a highly detailed map of the city, another one for the sewers, underground stuff, and a historical one for kicks until it happens to come up. I swear it will. I know you’ve been all around the city and you know where you’ve already looked, but I think it’s time to bust out the highlighters. Mark down the paths you take each day and then date them.”

“Would we be able to find a pattern off of that, prove that they’re moving Erica and Boyd around?” Derek asked as Isaac pulled a map over towards him.

“Maybe, I have some sleuthing experience, but nothing like this. Maybe I’ll take daily pictures and work something out with them. We’ll at least have something solid to fact check against in case Peter decides to do some bullshitting to get you chasing your own tails. You’ll know where you’ve been and when,” she answered with a shrug. “I mean, it sounded like you were searching at close to random so the pack would have to move at random. There wouldn’t be a pattern then.”

Derek leaned over the table, palms flat against the top. “We don’t have tails, and I don’t think Peter would send us chasing after them even if we did. His best bet would be to prove his loyalty to me, and I will take advantage of whatever that will bring us. We should also mark down places we think smell suspicious, maybe even areas where we saw or heard something suspicious.  It might be easier to find a pattern there.”

“Yeah, maybe that should be in pen,” Stiles said, scratching her head.

“Maybe we should look at special spots,” Isaac said, pushing the map back into the center.

“Special spots?” Derek asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You know, places with more magic or whatever in them. Places that have supernatural meaning,” he said with a shrug. “Put them someplace that’s worked historically or something. Or pay tribute to something that’s already happened.”

“I don’t know about materials or places that have been built specifically for supernatural reasons,” Derek said as he pulled out the historical map and laid it out on top. “But my family’s been here since about the beginning of the town. I’ve got stories, but I don’t know which ones the alpha pack would know about or where those stories were actually located.”

“Wait, you have werewolf stories?” Stiles asked, springing up. “That’s awesome.”

“It’s just family history type of things,” he said, frowning.

“No, but werewolf, do you like have werewolf fairy tales? Aesop fables?” she asked, leaning forwards over the table.

“I guess, not really the point right now,” he responded, frowning at her.

“Okay, but don’t think I’m going to forget about it,” she said, moving back and holding up her hands. “I can do the material stuff, find out what those would be and maybe if anywhere around here’s been built with any of it.

“I can figure out what places have historical connections,” Derek said, pulling the map closer to him.

“I will order pizza and make sure to eat all the food before Derek gets to it,” Isaac said, smiling brightly.

“Is that a challenge?” Derek asked, tilting his head.

“No cause then I’ll have to order the pizza and make sure it’s all vegetarian,” she said, attempting to push Isaac to the side and break his eye contact with Derek.

“Please don’t,” Derek said, breaking the eye contact himself.

“Yeah, you don’t get pizza to just turn around and put vegetables on it. That’s wrong,” Isaac agreed.

“There’s no such thing as pizza done wrong,” Stiles said, backing off of Isaac.

“We’ll make sure at least half a pizza is vegetarian, don’t worry,” Derek said as pulled out his phone and turned away to make the call.

“Good, and I wasn’t worried,” she retorted.

“You’re very particular about your pizza,” Isaac said, leaning on her shoulder like it was an arm rest.

“Come on, really?” she asked, gesturing to his arm.

“What? It’s a good height,”

She dropped her shoulders and unbalanced him. He righted himself again too quickly for it to be funny. He flashed her an impish smile.

“Pizza will be here in twenty minutes,” Derek told him them, tucking his phone away again.

“Sweet, food,” she said. “We can put all the maps away then. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking we’re _unusual_.”

Isaac snickered. “I’m pretty sure we’ve already got that covered.”

“What do you mean?” Stiles asked as she rolled up the historical map.

“Two werewolves and a human girl? Two high schoolers and an older guy? Two exonerated criminals and the sheriff’s daughter? All a little weird,” he answered with a shrug, rolling up one map.

Stiles looked up to see Derek giving Isaac a concerned look while Isaac didn’t seem to know what he’d said wrong. “Let’s not say that in front of the pizza delivery guy,” Derek said, shaking his head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel less confident in this story with each passing chapter, but I feel like that will turn around when I start getting into season 3A's plot.


	12. Lydia's Demands

“Stiles, come over to my house right now,”

Stiles stared gob smacked at her phone for a few seconds before responding to Lydia. “Okay, I can do that.”

“Good,” Lydia said then hung up on her.

“Okay,” Stiles said again, holding out her phone in front of her. She jumped up, shoved her phone into her pocket, and ran around preparing to leave. She’d have enough time to visit with Lydia for a while before heading on to Derek’s. She left a note for her father before leaving. She made it to Lydia’s doorstep within a half an hour.

She rang the doorbell, and Lydia opened the door for her. “Come on,” Lydia ordered, walking back into the house and leaving Stiles to close the door.

“I need explanations,” Lydia said as she led Stiles up the stairs.

“For what?”

“Everything that’s happened. I’ve been hounding Jackson for months, and he still won’t tell me anything. And now? He’s leaving,” she explained, pushing Stiles into her room and shutting the door behind them.

“He’s leaving? Why? Where?”

“For London, his parents want to leave. That’s not what’s most important. Now, take a seat,” she said, pointing towards the seat at her vanity table.

“Okay,” Stiles said, doing as asked while Lydia took a seat on the bed. “What do you want to know?”

“How did Jackson become the kanima?” she asked, sitting up straight and focusing her full attention on Stiles. “He never told me.”

“Um, well, Derek Hale bit him becaue Jackson asked him to, but Jackson had lingering issues which turned him into a kanima rather than a werewolf. You read the Latin about it,” Stiles said, scratching her nose.

“I know. Who’s Derek Hale? Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, stubble?” she asked, making motions around the lower half of her face.

“Yeah, have you actually met him?”

“No, but he was the man outside of the McCall’s house, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, that was him,” she said with a nod.

“I used him to resurrect Peter Hale,” she said blankly.

“What?” Stiles asked, rearing back and pausing for a moment. “How? Why?”

“Peter was using me. I kept seeing him. He told me what to do, and I did it. I drugged Derek and dragged him to the Hale house. I left after that,” Lydia explained, crossing her arms defensively.

“I…I didn’t know,” Stiles said, dragging a hand through her hair.

“How could you not? You were there at the ice rink. You had to know something was going on,” she said, glaring at Stiles.

“We did, but not what. We were trying to deal with the kanima,” Stiles said defensively as her stomach sank. “We were trying to keep people alive, you included.”

“You still could have told me,” she said icily. “And why me? Why use me?”

“Because of us probably, including Jackson,” Stiles guiltily admitted as she smoothed down the hair at the back of her neck.

“What do you mean?” Lydia asked, narrowing her eyes. 

“Jackson wasn’t the first to be bitten, as you might have figured out. Scott was bitten back in January by Peter, but we didn’t know it was him at the time. Derek was born a werewolf, and he bit Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd after becoming alpha. You were close enough to us and available,”

“I knew they were involved but I didn’t know exactly how. Why not you, though? You’re human, too,” Lydia said, studying Stiles.

“Yeah, well, Peter didn’t want me as a human,” Stiles said, looking away from Lydia and running her hand over the wrist Peter had nearly bit. “Anything else?”

“What’s going to happen next? Is the kanima it?”

“Yeah, that’s about it,” Stiles lied smoothly.

“No, it’s not,” Lydia said grinding her teeth. “Erica and Boyd are involved and they’re gone. Where are they?”

“Do you really want to know? Do you really want to be involved?” Stiles asked, pulling away to pick at the hem of her shorts.

“Yes, I have been trying to find out anything for months. I had no idea what was going on, and I was being used. You have your little group, and you rescued Jackson; but no one came to help me. I have a right to know; to be able to protect myself. I will not go into this blind again,” Lydia spat out, rage appearing where Stiles had never seen it before.

Stiles swallowed thickly, and she hunched her shoulders. She ran a hand down her face. “We fucked up. We should have told you before. I’m sorry.”

“It’s too late for that. Tell me what I need to know,” Lydia said, boring holes straight into Stiles’ skull with her eyes; like she could pull the information out that way.

“There’s an alpha pack coming, a pack made up of just alphas. They marked the Hale house, and we think they took Boyd and Erica,” she said, starting to tap her fingers against her legs.

“Who’s we?” Lydia asked, anger fading into suspicion.

“Me, Derek, and Isaac,”

“You three are working together now?” she asked, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head.

“Sort of? Anyways, we’ve been looking for Erica and Boyd all summer, but we still haven’t found them yet. It’s gotten to the point where Derek is accepting Peter’s help,” she said with a frown, watching Lydia’s reactions more carefully now.

“You think Derek is trustworthy,”

“With certain matters, yeah I guess,” Stiles answered with a shrug.

“What matters?”

“Life or death ones? He hasn’t tried to kill me, and he hasn’t left me to die,” she admitted, scrunching her eyebrows for a moment.

“Then why are you working with him to find Erica and Boyd instead of Scott if you only trust him to keep you alive?”

“Because,” Stiles snapped then shook her head. “Erica and Boyd are his betas not Scott’s.”

Lydia frowned. “What part does Scott play in this seeing as Allison is gone?”

Stiles winced and lowered her hands. “He doesn’t. We haven’t told him.”

“We or you?”

“Me, alright?” she snapped. “Does it matter?”

“Yes, I need to know what I’m getting into. If you’re going to be my point of access, I need to know your angle,” she said with a wise nod.

“My angle? Point of access?”

“Well, yeah, it seems like you had Scott originally but now you are in the supernatural world. I had Jackson, but he’s leaving now. I need to know if you’re going to be a good access point,”

Stiles sat up straighter. “Am I a good access point?”

“In terms of positioning and information, yes. You’re in with Derek's group and Scott's, and you seem to be in control of the information. That means I’m not on one side or the other, I’m in the middle, and I’m informed. I don’t know you very well, but I trust you more than Scott McCall. I also don’t know if Allison is trust worthy in this arena. I don’t know her as a hunter,” Lydia explained.

“Have you been doing research on positioning for power or something? Or reading scandal heavy novels? It’s not that intense,” Stiles said, holding up her hands.

“I’d say it’s more intense because people have already died. You’re not thinking hard enough if you believe it’s anything otherwise. Also, I have been doing research. I want to survive, and more than that, I want to survive and live on my own terms,” she countered, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Are you going to help us?” Stiles said, seeing her points. She would take whatever advantage she could get out of this.

“Considering I think we’ll only be able to survive if we work together, absolutely. That said; I want to give you a suggestion. Find a way to fit your two groups together. Figure out what went wrong last time and make sure people don’t die this time. I’m thinking things will work better like that,” she said, nodding again.

“I…don’t think they’ll be able to come together,” she admitted, shaking her head.

“Then at least make sure they’re talking to each other,” Lydia said, looking at her pointedly.

“Alright, is that it?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod, “That’s all I needed. I’ll text you if I think of something else.”

“Alright,” Stiles said, standing and heading for the door before pausing. “Do you think we’re too young to have this conversation?”

“Of course, we’ll be too young even when we die,” Lydia commented blithely.

Stiles sighed then left, firmly resolving to become the holder of information Lydia thought she was. She needed to know what else happened the night she had been kidnapped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a weird chapter, but we'll roll with it.


	13. Consequences

Just thinking of Gerard brought tension to Stiles’ shoulders and the sense of being about to hurl. She rolled her shoulders back once as she approached the door to Derek’s loft and did her best to steady her breathing. Isaac opened the door as she stepped up to it.

“Hey,” he greeted cheerfully before dropping his smile. “Something up?”

“I just talked to Lydia. I need to talk to you and Derek,” she said, moving her hands uncertainly.

“About what?” he asked, stepping aside to let her in.

“Well, I had a bit of an eye opener that I need to follow through on. I need to know what happened with Gerard,” she said, steeling herself for whatever answer she would receive.

She remembered arriving at the empty warehouse, ramming though a wall and into the kanima, but not their enemy’s defeat. Everyone had been a mess, including her, and she had feared knowing what they’d done to beat Gerard and where he’d disappeared to. She continued, “I haven’t heard anything about a funeral, and Scott didn’t tell me anything. So, what happened if he’s not dead?”

“Why now?” Derek asked, shutting the door she and Isaac had left open before joining them.

“I’ve actually been meaning to ask,” she said, keeping Lydia hidden for the moment. “We’re not getting rid of Peter right now, so I’d like to at least know Gerard’s gone for good,”

Isaac sighed and shifted his weight, and Derek shook his head; moved like he might turn away. “I don’t actually know what happened,” Isaac said slowly with a half shrug. “Allison took me out kinda early on.”

“And after that?” Stiles asked, turning towards Derek.

He turned back to her, jaw clenched and staring at her like it could make her back down. He sighed and hunched his shoulders before answering in a low tone. “I was paralyzed by the kanima when Isaac was taken out, and the kanima grabbed Allison after that. Gerard said that if Scott helped him, he could have Allison,” he took a deep breath before continuing. “So Scott picked me up, held my mouth open, and had me bite Gerard-”

Stiles felt her heart drop, and shook her head. “Whoa, whoa, what? Scott held your mouth open and made you bite Gerard?”

“Yes, do you really need elaboration on that point?” Derek asked, scowling at her and curling his hands into fists.

“Yeah, I kinda do if he,” she lifted her arms up helplessly, trying to find the right word. “He used you just to get Allison. That’s fucked up on multiple levels. And he didn’t tell me!” she said, starting to tug on her hair.

“It’s not like I like what he did,” Derek snapped, throwing an arm out to the side. “But he got the job done.”

“The job? The job? Was turning Gerard into a werewolf the job? Did he tell you he was gonna pull that kinda crap?” she asked, heart pounding against her ribs. There had to be something left out. Scott couldn’t do something like that point blank.

“No,” Derek said, voice harsh and sharp. “And he switched out Gerard’s meds with mountain ash, made sure he’d reject the bite,”

She searched his face for any sign that he had lied, steadily losing hope that Scott had anything favorable going for him in this situation. She saw nothing and backed a half step. “So what? That makes what he did to you okay?”

“Well, it wasn’t great, but he did stop Gerard,” Isaac said, nervously interjecting.

“Don’t you start with that crap either. Don’t you see?” she growled, looking from Isaac back to Derek. Scott needed to be called out on this, no excuses, even if it burned her throat. “He technically did exactly what Gerard wanted. He used you and gave Gerard the bite. I can’t believe mountain ash even works like that. Five minutes would have been enough to get Lydia in there and convert Jackson,”

“How was he supposed to know that you were coming with her?” he retorted.

“Doesn’t mean he had to do it. Why are you defending what he did?” she asked, voice going shrill.

“Could you stop yelling?” Isaac asked loudly enough to shock Stiles and Derek into stopping and looking at him.

Derek sighed and leaned away from Stiles as she responded to Isaac, chest still too hot and her heart bruising. “Shit, sorry, Isaac. But come on, we all agree what he did was messed up. Did he at least apologize to you?”

“No, he didn’t mention it,” Derek responded, tight lipped.

“What?” she ground out, clenching her fists. “After all that, he didn’t? That is not okay.”

“What are you so upset about? It’s done. It’s over,” Isaac asked, waving his hands like he could wipe it all away.

“It is not over,” she snapped, rounding on him.

“How?” he asked and took a step back, eyes wide.

“Because!” she shouted in frustration, throwing out her arms.

“Because what?” Derek asked, barely keeping his voice tempered.

She slapped her hands to the side of her head. “Because it makes him Gerard. It makes him Peter whether you want to admit it or not, he’s used you. They’ve used you. Scott abandoned me just to turn around and use you. And you know what he did after? He fucking complained because Allison left; that everyone had left him; to me!”

She lowered her hands, and they trembled. “I didn’t think he’d do something like that. And I can’t…I can’t!”

Derek and Isaac shared a look. Stiles looked back and forth between the two of them, grinding her teeth and feeling the welling sensation of tears in her eyes from her anger. “I mean, what makes him different than Gerard or Peter if he doesn’t even apologize?”

Derek moved towards her, reaching out. “Stiles, calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she snapped, pushing his hand away roughly. “How’s he supposed to be my friend after pulling something like that? Huh?”

“Really, Stiles? You’re already leaving him out of the loop,” Derek pointed out, shooting her a sharp look.

“That’s different. He doesn’t want anything to do with you,” she said, stubbornly crossing her arms and hunching her shoulders. She tried to will away the tears in her eyes, but more than that she tried to will Scott’s actions away.

“Yeah, he made that clear himself,” he responded bitterly, looking away.

“We’re going to need him, though,” she said with a sigh, surreptitiously rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

Isaac looked up at that. “Why?”

“You gonna beat an alpha pack on your own?” she asked, raising a brow at him.

Derek sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “We can worry about that later. We’re not that close yet.”

“Good, no more yelling,” Isaac said almost sounding cheerful over his anxiety.

Stiles felt her stomach coil and tighten. “I did it again, sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” he said with a half smile. “I propose no more arguments until the end of summer.”

“That’s unfortunately, not very long,” she commented, suddenly feeling exhausted. She turned away to take a seat on the arm of the couch.

“It’s something,” he told, coming over to place a hand on her shoulder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's to hoping I don't have to do this again. There's also going to be a follow up chapter to this.


	14. Unwind

“Sorry for getting so upset,” Stiles said, rubbing her cheeks to calm herself.

“It’s fine. The whole thing was a mess anyways,” Derek said, dropping down onto the couch beside her.

“I was gonna sit there,” Isaac whined.

Derek gave him a look and crossed his legs. Stiles laughed as Isaac frowned. “I’ll just have to sit on you then,” he said as he took a seat on Stiles’ lap.

“No, you’re too heavy,” Stiles said, gently pushing on him.

He only grinned happily and put an arm around her shoulders.

“Seriously though, I’m going to lose feeling in my legs,” she said, poking him sharply in the side.

He jumped and shot her an exaggerated pout. “Alright, I’m going.”

He skirted around the couch and took a seat on Derek’s other side. Stiles kicked off her shoes and swung around to face the two guys, wedging her feet between the arm of the couch and underneath Derek’s thigh. Stiles pressed her lips together and looked over to Isaac, waiting for someone else to break the silence. No one said anything so she nudged Derek with her foot. “So how are you feeling about all this?”

“How am I feeling about it?” Derek asked, looking up at her with a confused expression.

“Yeah, it happened to you,” she confirmed, nudging him again.

“Well,” he began, twisting his lips. “I thought I was okay with it, that it wasn’t so bad because it was to take down Gerard, but on his own without the kanima or Chris, he would have gone down easy.”

“Oh,” she said sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything,” he said, waving her off.

“Well, at least the Argents are gone now,” Isaac said. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

“We’re about to be given back the gift of school to worry about,” stiles said, slumping her shoulders. “I’m not going to be able to come over as much.”

 “You’re not going to come over after school starts up again?” Derek asked, sounding surprised and turning towards her. “Why don’t I believe that? Is it because you don’t know how to keep your nose out of werewolf business or because I feed you?”

“I don’t know, man, you guys might be facing some stiff competition,” she said with a shrug and a half smile.

“What do you mean?” Isaac asked, pulling his legs up onto the couch to face her.

“Well, the Gerard thing didn’t just come out of nowhere,” she said, scratching her neck before continuing. “I talked with Lydia today.”

Isaac tensed, his grip on his knees tightening. Derek clenched his jaw. They looked at each other the back to her.

“She’s not mad at you, you guys. Well, I think she’s madder at me and Jackson than you in any case,” she explained, waving her hand back and forth.

“Why would she be mad at you?” Isaac asked.

“I didn’t tell her what was happening with the werewolves and the kanima. Peter used her to resurrect himself, and I knew something was up with her, but I still didn’t tell her anything. I messed up,” she explained, shifting her shoulders uncomfortably.

“We’ve all messed up,” Isaac said tiredly.

“A lot,” Derek added, expression nearing a grimace.

“So we do better next time. I’ll keep Lydia in the loop and do,” she made motions with her hands. “I’ll do something about Scott.”

“You think he’ll do it again?” Isaac asked, pressing his lips together.

Stiles sighed. “I don’t know. He hasn’t done anything like that before. That’s the problem.”

“Is something else going on?” Derek asked, sharing a glance with Isaac before looking back to her.

“I don’t know,” Stiles said, rubbing her hands over her face. “I just _know_ when people are bad. I’ve got a built in evil person detector, comes with being the Sheriff’s kid. Scott’s never set it off.”

“You’ve never been wrong before?”

“No, I mean, I’m really good at it,” she said, spreading out her hands. “I called Matt before we had any idea he was in control of Jackson.”

“Did I ever,” Derek rolled his eyes and shifted his jaw before finishing. “set you off?”

“What? No,” she said, leaning back almost far enough to lose her balance. “I mean, you might do bad things, but you’re not _bad_. You just fuck up a lot.”

Derek shot her a glare. She held up her hands. “Just saying, you’ve done some really sketchy things.”

“So what does that mean for Scott?” Isaac asked, frowning. “Is he bad and didn’t set you off or is he a good person who has done something bad?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem,” Stiles said, aggravation seeping into her tone.

“Maybe you should talk to him then?” Isaac suggested, shrugging.

“Um, yeah, sure, that’s a real easy topic to bring up casually. Hey Scott, do you really not give a shit about people or was getting Gerard more important than, you know, not fucking Derek over?” she said, shaking her head. “This is not what I expected to be worrying about junior year.”

“Hunters have a funny way of fucking things up don’t they?” Derek said, disheartened rather than angry.

“Hunters?” Isaac asked. “I know we were fighting Gerard, but Scott and a pack of alphas are our current problem, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t know Scott if it weren’t for hunters, ergo, hunters’ fault. Also, I’m pretty sure hunters had something to do with the alpha pack even being a thing. If it’s bad, it’s because of hunters,” Derek said, leaning forwards and looking directly at Isaac.

“Huh, usually it’s the werewolf that’s the bad guy,” Stiles commented.

Derek focused a full glare on her, complete with barred teeth. “Who do you think told those stories?”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, oh,” he snapped, crossing his arms.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, pulling her toes from beneath his thigh. “But, hey, maybe that’s Scott’s problem.”

“What?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “You know, he still thinks like a human. Werewolves are the bad guys. Well, I mean, there are werewolves who are bad people, but werewolves aren’t the bad guys.”

“It doesn’t help he’s dating a hunter,” Derek added grumpily.

“Past tense now, if that helps,” she said, tilting her head.

“Ugh, screw Scott. I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” Isaac complained, stretching out over the leftover space on the couch.

Stiles snorted. “Then what do you want to talk about?”

“Funny things, like imagining Derek getting a job in customer service,” he suggested, grinning winningly at his alpha.

“That is a terrible idea,” Derek said, shaking his head.

Stiles laughed loudly, nearly falling off the arm when she threw her head back. “A terribly hilarious idea! He’d get fired within an hour. Hell, how would he even get hired in the first place?”

“I don’t know,” Isaac said, shaking with laughter. “Really bad smooth talking?”

“Wait,” Stiles said, her laughter dying though her smile remained strong. “Wait, he can actually do that. He can smooth talk when he wants to.”

“Really? I want a demonstration,” Isaac said, leaning towards Derek.

Derek covered his face with his hands. “Please go back to talking about Scott.”


	15. Sheriff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've got the sheriff this chapter, and I've left out his first name for the moment. I'll decide on it later (it's probably going to end up John anyways).

“You’re late,” the sheriff told her as she came into the dining room.

“Only by five minutes,” she said, dropping into her seat next to him.

“I still had to set the table,” he said, digging into his food.

“How awful it must have been,” she commented without the usual lightness she used when talking with her father.

“Did something happen? I figured you’d be happy from the note you left. You got to talk with Lydia and then hang out with Isaac,” he said, pausing his eating.

“Well, the talk with Lydia didn’t go great, and things kinda started off on the wrong foot with Isaac, but it got better. Then I had to drive home,” she said, making an exaggerated face before starting to eat.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked, offering without any sort of pressure or unnecessary amount of concern.

She almost smiled. “Not the Lydia thing. I’ve got that covered, but there is maybe something you could help me with.”

“Shoot,” he said, setting aside his fork. “I’m all ears.”

She frowned, pursing her lips as she gathered her words. “What do you do when a friend does something you didn’t think they were capable of? Something bad?”

“Is this about Isaac?”

“No, no, it’s, um, it’s actually about Scott,” she said, looking up nervously.

His eyebrows rose. “Really? Did he do something to you?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He did it to Derek.”

“I believe you that Scott’s done something otherwise you wouldn’t even be talking to me, but Derek? Really?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably. “Why him of all people? I didn’t even know they knew each other, and the poor kid’s already been through too much.”

“Kid, Dad, really?” she asked, wincing in Derek’s place.

“He barely qualifies as adult supervision,” he said, looking at her pointedly. “He’s also less than half my age. I can still call him a kid.”

“Fine, that’s not the point though. What do I say to Scott? I mean, it’s kind of a big deal,” she said holding up her hands.

“Are you going to give me any more details on what happened?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t think Derek would appreciate me telling, but I know Scott didn’t apologize for it.”

“Well, I guess the best way to go about it then is just to be forthright with Scott. Ask him if he understands the consequences of his actions and suggest he apologize to Derek,” he said, frowning. “I can’t imagine what he did though. He’s always been a good kid, less likely to get in trouble than you.”

“That’s actually part of the problem,” Stiles confessed, running a hand over her forehead. “He did it to try and do something good, and I’m pretty sure that’s why he thought it was okay and didn’t apologize.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make it okay,” he said, pulling away to observe her. “Regardless of his response when you confront him, what are you going to do about it? I know you haven’t been hanging out as much this summer, and it’s great you can hang out with Isaac, but is this part of a change or something? It’s too close to be incidental. How long have you known about this?”

“Only heard about it today, but it happened a while ago. It’s definitely part of a change,” she said, bitterness coating her tone. “It doesn’t seem to be good either. I’m…nevermind.”

“It’s alright,” he said soothingly, moving his chair closer to hers to put an arm around her shoulders. “You can tell me.”

She took a deep breath and scrubbed her face. “I’m just afraid that he’ll use me next and won’t even realize it. I mean, Derek is by no means the greatest guy, but he was trying to help. Scott agreed to help him, but he used him. I agree to help Scott all the time, but Scott hasn’t been helping me recently. I don’t know. I’m not _sure_ anymore.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmured and pressed a kissed to her forehead. “I’m sorry this is happening, but sometimes people change. You’re not alone, though, and it’s alright if you want to keep a little distance from him.”

“But I still care about him. I don’t want him to do things like that. I don’t want to make things worse,” she said, leaning into her father and trying to wipe away her tears.

“I understand. That’s not something you can just shut off. I do want you to be careful, though. I know you’re smart about things, but you’re not always careful. Please, just be cautious, at least for the interim,” he said, rubbing her shoulder. “I’m going to talk to his mother, too.”

“What? Why?” she said, pulling away.

“She has a right to know what her son is up to. The situation doesn’t need to get any worse than it is,” he explained, rubbing her shoulder again. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she answered quietly.

“Did this help? I mean, I didn’t mean to make you upset,” he said, looking at her worriedly. 

“I’m fine,” she said, nodding cautiously. “It helped.”

“Good,” he said, pulling his hand away. “Then why don’t we finish eating so we can watch a movie together; relax for a bit. How does that sound?”

“Good,” she said, smiling. “Let’s do that.”

Stiles ate quietly, mulling over what her father said, but the sheriff filled the room with stories of the some of the new deputies trying to fit in. She helped him clean up once they’d finished eating, and picked out a movie. She sat down beside him on the couch, and he let her snuggle into his side and put an arm around him as he put an arm around her shoulders. The last person she’d curled up like this with had been Isaac, and the experiences couldn’t be more different. Isaac had been warm despite his sharp edges while her father’s edges had been worn smooth and his warmth muted. Her father’s embrace was a thousand times more familiar, and she used that comfort in whatever way she could to batten down her fears.

She refused to tell her father that she feared that if she took one step away from Scott she’d find another body to mourn. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sorry for hitting the Scott thing so hard because it's not mentioned at all in series and I'm getting a lot of use out of it. My plans for season 3A are improving now that I'm getting a few more slivers of information out of the new episodes.


	16. The Week Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up names and people for Stiles' field hockey team. There was no getting around it.

Sweat coated Stiles’ back and forehead, but she felt energized after the two hour field hockey practice. She had never been one for fall sports starting the week before school started, but she had to be thankful for it aiding her in avoiding Scott. They’d agreed they’d stop conditioning together when their respective sports started up.

She guzzled down the last of her water and felt a tap on her shoulder. She wiped her mouth and turned to face her teammate.

“When’d you start running like that?” Sarah asked. “I don’t remember you running like that last year.”

“I just spent a little more time conditioning,” Stiles answered, shrugging.

“You freaking creamed everyone on the mile run, and you didn’t burn out or anything afterwards,”

“I just put in a little extra effort,” Stiles said, shrugging. She had noticed, but her increased endurance hadn’t done anything for her ability to pass and shoot in the drills.

“Well keep it up then,” Karen said, appearing on Stiles other side. “Brush up on your aiming then we can really go to town.”

“I will,” Stiles promised, beginning to pack up her things.

“This year’s going to be good,” Sarah said, high fiving Karen as they moved towards their own bags.

Stiles felt like she’d just had an out of body experience. For the past two field hockey seasons, she’d warmed the bench. Her teammates had known her name, but hadn’t bothered to talk to her or get to know her. Actually being decent at the sport seemed to make all the difference. She rolled her shoulders and walked away from the field towards her car.

She headed home first. She stripped off her clothes in her bathroom and hopped into a scalding shower. She scrubbed her body clean and left washing her hair for another time. She shut off the water, stepped out, and began wiping down her body with her towel. She paused when she passed over her Orion’s Belt of moles on her inner calf. She hurriedly dried off her hair and put away her towel. She checked the bathroom mirror and found it misted over still. She retreated into her bedroom and her full length mirror.

She didn’t normally use it, but she couldn’t stop smiling as she looked into it. She’d felt awesome at practice, in shape and completely capable, and she looked practically better than she felt. She watched her muscles as she flexed, enjoying the way she could see them and how it made her look strong. Her legs looked perfectly toned, and her Orion’s Belt felt like the perfect accessory for her calf.

She got dressed slowly, pulling on short shorts to wear for once, deciding that was the only appropriate thing to wear after finding out your legs looked amazing. She gave herself one last smile before heading out again to drive to Derek’s.

She found the door to the apartment unlocked when she arrived and walked in. “Hey,” Isaac called out from his seat on the table. 

Derek stood beside him, hunched over the table with the map lying on the table in front of him.

“What’s up?” she asked, joining them at the table.

Derek still held a highlighter, but marked nothing. Isaac sighed, “We’re discovering that knowing supernatural materials means nothing in a town where half the down town is made of the stuff. Still haven’t smelled anything either.”

“Peter thinks we’re getting closer, but we’ve no proof of that,” Derek said, capping the highlighter and tossing it aside.

“An exercise in frustration,” Stiles commented.

“Was that supposed to help?” Derek asked, turning towards her.

“Not really,” she said then felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

“That Scott?” Isaac asked, eyeing her phone suspiciously as she pulled it out.

“No, actually, it’s Heather,” she said, raising her eyebrows at her phone.

“Who’s that?” he asked, pulling a leg up onto the table to face her.

“Old friend,” she answered as she began to read the message. “She got districted into the neighboring high school. We haven’t talked in a while.”

“Then what’s the weird face for?” Derek asked, crossing his arms.

“Am I making a face?”

Derek rolled his eyes, and Isaac nodded politely. Stiles licked her lips. “She sent me a wink which is totally not her style. I don’t know what it means.”

“I don’t need to hear about this,” Derek said, backing away towards the kitchen. “I’m going to heat up leftovers.”

“Don’t eat my pad thai,” Isaac warned him.

“No promises,” Derek responded.

Stiles watched Derek leave for a moment then turned back to Isaac. Isaac shrugged. “I like pad thai. Anyways, maybe your friend just meant to send a smile-y face.”

“No, she would have corrected it then,” she responded as she began to type out a reply to Heather, neglecting to mention that the text was an invitation to her birthday party and the words immediately preceding the wink were ‘please come’.

“So what if she is flirting with you then, if it’s not a joke?” he asked cautiously.

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s not the worst thing to ever happen, and she’s pretty,” Stiles rolled her head from side to side. “But like, why not a cute guy?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Derek called out from the kitchen. “Flirt back if you want to, but stop talking about it. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Fine,” she snapped back at him. “You’re so particular.”

“My apartment, my rules,” he countered.

She rolled her eyes and sent Heather back a positive reply with a wink attached to the end of it. “There, it’s done with. Happy, Derek?”

“Don’t you know any better? I’m never happy,” he said, deadpan. Stiles would have thought he was serious if he hadn’t stuck his head out of the kitchen just to quirk an eyebrow at her. Isaac chuckled, and Stiles rolled her eyes; trying desperately not to smile. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's a transition chapter, but we're starting to head into season 3A.


	17. The Week Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're heading into season 3A now, but nothing is going to be quite the same as it is in the show.

“A tattoo? Really? Right now?” Stiles asked as Scott climbed into her car.

“Yeah, I figured now would be a good a time as we probably won’t have time once school starts up,” he explained as he shut the door behind himself.

“Alright,” she said warily as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “You got directions?”

“Yep, just get downtown then I’ll tell you where to go from there,” he said, nodding and smiling at her.

“Okay,” she said, beginning to pull out of his driveway.

She drove white knuckled despite the nearly complete lack of traffic the entire way downtown. She chatted with Scott about their schedules and how they only had lunch together Every time there was a lull in the conversation; she nearly brought up Derek and spouted out something random about their teachers instead. It didn’t last long, however, as Scott began giving her directions to a tattoo parlor in the western part of downtown.

“There it is,” he said, pointing to a shabby building with neon signs in its windows.

“It looks sketchy,” Stiles commented as she pulled into its parking lot.

“It’s a tattoo parlor, and I checked its credentials and reviews. I wouldn’t have gotten my mom’s permission otherwise,” he explained, hopping out of the car.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe that happened. Why do you want this tattoo so much anyways?” she complained, getting out of her jeep and locking it behind her.

“I’ll tell you after I get it,” he promised, leading the way to the parlor’s entrance.

Stiles pointedly and purposefully checked out the artwork, tattoo designs, and pictures of satisfied customer’s tattoos hanging on the walls rather than speaking with any employees with Scott. Scott would have no support from her in getting a tattoo from a sketchy looking place, even if he managed to convince his mom it was okay. She kept her jaw clenched and her eyes on the pictures.

“Come on, Stiles,” Scott called her as she was trying to find meaning in a geometrical pattern.

“Coming,” she said, following him back to the chair. Thankfully, it had pictures too so she wouldn’t actually have to watch the process.

“Hey, look at this one,” she said, pointing to a picture of a lizard-man. “You sure you don’t want something like this?”

She turned to see Scott talking to the tattoo artist. He turned to her a moment later. “No, I’m getting black bands, keeping it simple.”

“Why? Why not go all out if you are going to do it?” she asked, looking back at the picture but thinking about the tattoo between Derek’s shoulder blades.

“This is what I want,” he said, sounding completely sure of himself.

“So long as I don’t have to watch,” she murmured, shifting to another picture and wondering if she could find a triskelion on the walls.

Of course, as soon as she heard the tattooing start, she turned around, watched for less than five seconds, and fainted.

“I was not prepared for that,” Stiles complained as one of the staff helped her into a chair in the lobby. She felt like she might either hurl or get a headache, and she definitely didn’t want to be standing at the moment.

“Here, drink some water, and we’ll send your friend out when he’s done,” the lady said, handing her an unopened water bottle.

“Thanks,” Stiles said listlessly, feeling a twinge of guilt for being rude earlier.

As she waited for Scott, she planned how to bring up what happened with Gerard after they got the tattoo thing over with. She finished off the water bottle by the time Scott came out and finished paying. She didn’t feel like hurling anymore, and she hadn’t developed a headache.

“All done,” Scott said, smiling cheerfully with a bandage wrapped around his tattoo.

“Let’s go,” she said, standing up and heading for the exit.

“Is it supposed to feel like burning?” Scott asked as he climbed into the jeep.

“The tattoo?” she asked as she put her keys into the ignition. “I have no idea. I research werewolves not their tattoos.”

“I think something’s wrong,” he said, peeling off the bandage in time to watch the ink fade from his skin. “Shit.”

“Well,” Stiles said, rolling her eyes. Scott’s tattoo was rock bottom on her lists of things that needed worrying about.

“Hey, this was important,” Scott chides as she started up the car.

“Really? A tattoo of all things was important?” she asked, raising her eyebrows even though she was watching the road and not her friend.

“Yeah, it was supposed to be something permanent. It was for all this shit we’ve had to deal with since getting bitten,” he said, sounding sullen rather than angry.

“Becoming a werewolf wasn’t permanent enough for you?” she asked, incredulous and her stomach starting to sink.

“It is, but I can’t show anyone. I need something visible, something anyone can see. I figured a tattoo would do it since I wasn’t going to get scars anymore,” he explained.

“Are you kidding me right now?” she shouted, pulling over to the side of the road immediately. “You’re upset because you can’t be scarred? What about me, huh?”

“What are you talking about, Stiles?” he asked, leaning away from her.

“I said, what about me? Did you not see the bruises on my face last spring? Those were for you, courtesy of Gerard,” she said, pointing at him. 

He opened and closed and opened his mouth but didn’t respond.

“They were yours, and I got to carry them for weeks. Lucky me, right?” she asked, glaring and breathing hard.

“What do you mean ‘courtesy from Gerard’? When did that happen?” Scott asked, not looking her in the eye.

“Oh, I don’t know, how about when I got kidnapped off the school field and dumped into the basement of your ex-girlfriend’s hell house where I found Erica and Boyd strung up by electrified cords?” she snapped.

He shook his head but continued to gape at her.

“He beat me up to send you a message, and you think it’s awful you can’t scar? Not only that, guess what I found out? The reason you didn’t come and help me is that you were too busy using Derek.”

“Using Derek? Me use Derek?” he asked, sounding incredulous.

“You held his mouth open and made him bite Gerard. What the hell else could it’ve been? You used him,” she shouted, slamming a palm down onto the steering wheel before twisting to face Scott. “He considers the bite a gift, and you forced him to give that gift to his enemy. What were you thinking you were doing? I mean, clearly you knew he wouldn’t agree to it otherwise you would have asked him in the first place.”

“I didn’t use him, and anyways, I stopped Gerard,” he retorted.

“That’s the shittiest excuse I’ve ever heard. You did exactly what Gerard wanted. He wanted you use Derek, and congratulations; you did,” she spat. “You know what? Get out.”

“What?” Scott asked, looking confused. Stiles couldn’t find it in herself to give a shit.

“Get out of my car. Find your own way home,” she said, shooing him out of her car.

He did as she asked, awkwardly opening his door and sliding out. “Stiles,” he pleaded.

“Don’t talk to me until you get your act together and apologize to me and Derek,” she said, glaring sharply at him. “Properly and sincerely. Shut the door.”

He pushed the door closed, and she drove off immediately; ignoring that she was not in a proper state for driving. That point was only emphasized when she nearly slammed into a car in front of her on the way home. After getting her heartbeat back to normal, she noticed that Lydia was climbing out of the car in front of her and a second more to realize that Allison was her passenger.

She climbed out of her jeep, and Lydia turned towards her.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, voice rougher than she’d realized.

“A deer, it broke through the windshield,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the show acts like Scott's a hero, but given Scott's actions he's really not. I just don't see a way to reconcile Scott's actions with his belief that he is good into an actually good character without him getting called out and for him to recognize his mistakes and apologize for them.


	18. The Day Of

“I need to talk to you,” Isaac said, joining Stiles as she walked to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Well, I’ve got info, too. We should probably grab Lydia,” she said.

“She gonna want to sit with us?” he asked, looking around for Lydia with his superior vantage point.

“She will to get more information,” she said, checking behind her for her classmate.

“Found her,” Isaac said, pulling Stiles along with him through the other students.

“Lydia, we’ve got news,” Stiles said as they reached her, holding up her hand in greeting despite still holding on to her bagged lunch.

“Let’s take an empty table then,” she said, picking up her pace and therefore leading them to the cafeteria.

Stiles and Isaac shared a look, but followed her anyways. Lydia didn’t once look back to check that they were keeping up with her. She took a seat at the table that used to be Boyd’s, though Stiles doubted that Lydia knew that.

“Now, what’s this news?” Lydia asked, tossing back her hair and fixing them with a wan smile.

“Well,” Isaac said as he sat down. “Derek and I found the alphas.”

“Where? When? How?” Stiles said, practically collapsing into the seat next to him in her attempt to sit down quickly.

“I was going to say that,” he said, giving her a look before turning back to Lydia. “We were wandering around downtown like usual. We didn’t actually know we were close to them, but really, Peter disappearing should have tipped us off.”

Lydia frowned at the mention of her tormenter. Isaac ducked his head. “Sorry. Anyways, we kinda just stumbled upon two of them. They didn’t look like they were expecting us, and we weren’t really expecting them. We only just managed to catch the name on building they had come out of before they started chasing us.”

“How’d you get away?” Stiles asked.

“They kinda did like this amoeba thing,” Isaac said, trying to illustrate with his hands. “And they become one alpha, and after that they got a lot faster than we were. They managed to get me so Derek told me to run off while he distracted them. I don’t know how he got away, but he got back to the loft before nine. Then, I spent the rest of the night healing.”

“That sucks, but you’re alive,” Stiles said, then added a shrug. “Derek also has a little experience getting chased around downtown.”

“Fascinating,” Lydia said dryly. “Not really important. Where are they?”

“They’re at an abandoned bank. One of the ones Stiles checked out over the summer online for with supernatural type materials,” he explained to her. “We think Boyd and Erica are being held in one of the vaults, but we don’t know how to break in.”

“I can definitely handle that,” Stiles said with a sharp nod.

“Are you secretly a part time thief?” Isaac asked.

“No, the supernatural business takes up too much of my free time,” she responded easily with a smile. “It’ll help that it’s abandoned now anyways.”

“You said you had info, too?” he asked.

Stiles looked over to Lydia. “You wanna explain?”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “Stiles thinks something supernatural is going to happen because animals are acting weird. Yesterday, a deer ran straight into my car. This morning, my dog bit me which she’s never done before. During first period, a bunch of birds tried to break into the class room by slamming head first into the glass.”

“Three confirms a pattern, and I saw a few people with cat scratches so I don’t think it’s completely Lydia related or at least it’s not centered on her. It unfortunately doesn’t point to anything in particular according to my knowledge, but Derek might know something,” she explained then cracked a small smile. “Though it was a little funny the way our new English teacher jumped."

“It’s not funny. Something weird is happening, and it usually ends up turning out badly,” Lydia said, rolling her eyes and sighing. “I’m going to lie low for this. I’ll do translations or anything else like that that you need, but I’m not doing field work.”

“Field work makes it sound much more professional than what we actually do,” Stiles shrugged. “You might not have any choice if things keep happening at the school.”

“Well, if it does happen at the school, I’m leaving like the rest of the uninformed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other relationships to maintain,” Lydia said, rising gracefully. “Text me with any info I need to know.”

“I think that went well,” Stiles commented with a mock serious face as Lydia walked away from them. “We should have lunch meetings more often.”

Isaac chuckled. “You gonna come over after practice to work on the bank stuff?”

“I can. Does Derek have a laptop yet?”

“Well, he borrowed Peter’s but had to give it back. He says his laptop is actually still in New York, but he’s getting a friend to send it to him.”

“He has friends? In New York?” she asked, looking surprised.

“He lived there for six years. Figure you gotta see some people at that point,” Isaac answered with a shrug.

“Well, until then, I guess I’ll just bring mine,”

“We going to eat here?” he asked, gesturing at their empty table.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, opening up her lunch.

“What about Scott?” he asked, looking over a few tables. Scott had squeezed himself onto the end of a table of other members of the boy’s lacrosse team.

“He’s not going to sit with us,” she said, shaking her head.

“Did you talk with him? How’d it go?” he asked, turning to face her.

“Well, we were sort of in my car when it happened. I had to pull over for it, and I ended up kicking him out so he had to walk all the way home,” she explained, running a hand over her forehead.

“Well, from what I’ve heard, he deserved it,” he said, pulling out his own lunch and starting to eat. “We should worry about how we’re going to handle Erica and Boyd once we get them out. I mean, they technically did leave the pack.”

“Offer them their spots back? Let them ease their way into it? We don’t know what’s happened to them this whole time,” she said tiredly.

“I guess we can leave it up to Derek,”

“He’s probably already thinking about it,”

“So anything else up aside from something supernatural coming in?”

“Well, Allison is back,” Stiles said, “Lydia was driving with her when the deer ran into them.”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“I don’t know yet,” she said, and her phone buzzing interrupted her. She checked it to see that Heather had sent her another message. “Well, on the bright side, Heather’s still talking to me.”

She set her phone on the table and brushed back her hair roughly.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll bust out Erica and Boyd, you’ll go to your party, and then we’ll all hang out and gorge ourselves on pizza,” Isaac said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Nice vocab,”

“I was flipping through our new vocab book.”

“Gonna try and impress Derek with it?”

“No, have you seen how many books he reads?”

“Don’t know if they have good vocab, though. He’s not loquacious enough for us to tell.”

Isaac laughed, and Stiles noticed when Scott turned his head towards it. She resolutely didn’t look towards Scott again. 


	19. The Week After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not heading for proper romantic Steather, but I felt that I should make better use of the scene than the show did.

“Hey, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” Heather said, patting her hand on Stiles’ thigh.

“What is it?” Stiles asked, shifting towards her even though their thighs and hips were already touching. She hadn’t heard anything that interesting at the party since the greeting Heather had given her an hour earlier.

“Come on,” Heather urged, standing from the couch.

“Where you goin’?” one of Heather’s guy friends asked.

“Nowhere,” Heather said, laughing him off. “Just need a little privacy.”

She took Stiles’ hand and guided her up to her bedroom. Stiles shut the door behind them. “I gotta say, your friends are nice, but I’ve missed way too much.”

“I was hoping it wouldn’t be too bad. I mean you’ve changed a bit too if you haven’t brought Scott,” Heather said with a shrug.

“We hit a bit of a speed bump, but it’s not important right now,” Stiles said, clapping her hands together. “What did you want to talk about?”

“This is gonna sound a little weird because we’ve been friends for a long time, but,” Heather sighed and brushed back her hair. “Well, you said you were bi, right?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said with a one shouldered shrug. She’d told Heather first, not long after she admitted it to herself, and sort of forgot to mention it to anyone else since.

“And you know I’m bi, right?”

“Basically the reason I even told you,”

“That hasn’t changed, has it?”

“No, not really, I’d have to forget Catherine Zeta Jones ever existed,” Stiles said, shaking her head. “Why?”

“I’m ready to have sex, but I figured I needed someone I could trust to do that with. And,” she tilted her head and made circular motions with her hands. “Well, the only person I could think of was you. It sure as hell wasn’t going to be a guy.”

Stiles gaped at her for several moments. “I’m totally with you on the guy part, and though this does prove I’m attractive to bi girls, why me?”

“I thought you would be best. I trust you, and I could see us getting it on. Also, I tried out flirting with you over texts as like a trial run. I told myself I wouldn’t ask if you didn’t seem interested.”

“That was actually a really good idea,” Stiles said, tapping her chin. “I did figure something was up with the wink-y faces, but I was not expecting it to be sex.”

“So, what do you think? Up for it?” Heather asked, taking a step towards her and looking hopeful.

“What, right now?”

“Yeah, it’s my birthday after all.”

 Stiles flailed for a moment, giddy that Heather had picked her and overwhelmed with curiosity despite a complete lack of sexual attraction. Heather had asked her. Stiles wound down with an exaggerated nod. “Yeah, yeah, sure, do we need like protection?”

“We’re both clean, right? We’re also not about to get pregnant,” Heather answered. 

“True,”

Heather pressed her lips against Stiles’. Stiles froze, but Heather hardly noticed as she pulled away to tug Stiles’ shirt up. “Still going around in sports bras?” Heather asked as she pulled Stiles’ shirt off.

“Not tonight,” Stiles answered as Heather began stripping Stiles’ camisole off. “What about your dress.”

“Oh, it comes off easy,” Heather said, kicking off her shoes and pulling down her zipper. Stiles awkwardly left her hands in midair waiting for something to do with them. She felt almost like her chest was beginning to tighten.

Heather stepped out of her dress and moved back in to pepper Stiles’ lips with more kisses. She began to steer Stiles towards her bed. Stiles jolted when the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed. Heather pushed her down to sit on the bed then crawled onto her lap.

“Heather,” Stiles warned before Heather surged towards her again, kissing her more fully and parting her lips.

Stiles let Heather make out with her, but Heather’s hands felt too heavy on her skin and she tasted completely off. Heather leaned her weight forward, and Stiles dropped back onto the bed, pulling her lips from Heather’s. Stiles blurted, “I can’t do this.”

“Why not? I didn’t hurt you did I?” Heather asked, concerned and letting up immediately.

“No, I just,” Stiles sighed and put a hand over her forehead. “Things have been a little messed up recently, and I don’t feel alright doing this now.”

“The Scott thing?”

“Partially,”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to like, over step or anything. I thought you were cool with it,” Heather said, climbing off Stiles.

“I thought I was, too,” Stiles said with a sigh, sitting up and running a hand over her face. “I think I can do cuddling though. How’s that? Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Heather said, nodding. Stiles slowly kicked off her shoes and moved back on the bed so she could lean back against Heather’s pillows. Heather crawled up to lay by her side, throwing an arm over Stiles and laying her head on her shoulder. Stiles responded by wrapping her friend in a half hug.

“I feel like this should be weirder than it is,” Stiles commented absent-mindedly, adjusting slowly to the feel of Heather’s body against hers. “But I’ve seen you naked before like a hundred times.”

“A hundred sleep overs will do that, but it’s been months since the last one. You must have worked out or something though because you’re looking a lot buffer than before. I gotta say it’s kinda hot,” Heather said, before ruining the compliment before poking Stiles in the abs.

“Don’t do that,” Stiles complained.

“Fine, fine,” Heather said, patting Stiles' stomach before hooking her arm over her waist again.

“Sorry, about this,”

“It’s fine, and it was kinda a long shot anyways. Plus, now you know you can just come to me when you’re ready.”

“You’re sure you’re not disappointed though? You were kinda excited about it.”

“Yeah,” Heather said, sighing. “It probably would have been awesome if we had done it, but I’m not about to be that asshole who doesn’t listen to you-,”

Then they said together, “Which is why not guys.”

“I get it,” Stiles said with a nod. “And thanks.”

“No problem at all, I’m actually feeling pretty okay about not doing it now. Like I want to do it, and I’ve been psyching myself up for weeks, but I don’t know.”

“Just not the right time for either of us then.”

“Yeah, well, there’s always another time to look forward to.”

They grew silent, Heather snuggling closer and Stiles drawing a pattern on Heather’s arm with her fingertips as her mind drifted.

“What are you thinking about?” Heather asked quietly.

“I’m developing a plan to break into a bank vault,”

Heather laughed, and Stiles kept her mouth closed, more content cuddling with Heather than she had been downstairs and feeling like she’d been wasting valuable time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catherine Zeta Jones was basically picked at random, but I figure Stiles could have seen her in either "The Mask of Zorro" or "Chicago." I also might bring Heather back later on cause I'm going to have a longer time frame to work with than the show did.


	20. The Part Where They Meet Jennifer

“He’s this way,” Isaac said, motioning for Stiles to follow him.

She nodded, and they turned the corner onto one of the more commercial streets near Derek’s loft. They walk about halfway down the street until they hit the coffee shop. “There,” Isaac said, pointing towards the windows.

Stiles checked through the window and saw mostly Derek’s back and a really pretty lady sitting across from him. She grabbed Isaac’s arm and pulled them both down to crouch beneath the windows. “He’s on a coffee date,” she whispered to him. “Since when does he have a date?”

“I don’t know,” Isaac said, stretching upwards to sneak another peak over the window sill. “He’s gone.”

“What?” Stiles snapped up to check for herself. The lady sat by herself and two cups of coffee, smiling and most definitely looking at them.

“What are you doing?”

Stiles whipped her head around to see Derek standing on the sidewalk beside them and looking harassed and possibly a little disappointed. “Nothing,” she said, doing her best to casually shrug while Isaac worked out whether he wanted to have his mouth open or closed. 

“Sure,” Derek said, rolling his eyes and motioning for them to get up.

Isaac scrambled to his feet as Stiles cautiously got to hers. Derek took a step back on the sidewalk and swiftly gestured towards the door. “Oh, we’re going in? We get to meet the-,” Stiles said then stopped as Derek began glowering at her. “Right, okay.” 

Isaac headed for the door first, and Stiles followed him after Derek motioned for her to go before him. The toe of her shoe got caught on the door jam, and she nearly tumbled into Isaac’s back. “Whoops, sorry,” she said, bracing herself with Isaac’s back for a moment.

“Try not to break your face on the way in,” Derek said behind her, still sounding aggrieved.

“I’m trying okay,” she said, turning around to point a finger at him and trying to keep her face straight. “The struggle is real, Derek.”

“No, it’s not,” he said, shaking his head.

“It’s totally real. Isn’t it, Isaac?” she asked, turning around to tap Isaac to find him muffling laughter. “You are literally not helping.” 

“Shut up, we have someone to talk to. Grab chairs,” Derek said, motioning towards the free chairs at the table next to the one the lady was sitting at.

“Come on,” Isaac said, doing immediately as he was told. “I’ll take the far side.”

“Fine,” Stiles said, taking the last chair and setting down closer to Derek’s than the lady’s just as Isaac did the same across from her.

“This is Jennifer Blake,” Derek said, gesturing to the lady across from him. “Jennifer, this is Isaac Lahey and that’s Stiles Stilinski. Jennifer wants to make friends with us so she can kill the alpha of the alpha pack.”

“Okay,” Stiles said with a slow nod as she began eyeing Jennifer suspiciously. “How are you planning on this working?”

“I’m a druid, an emissary without a pack,” Jennifer explained in an even tone, completely impervious by Stiles’ unusual expression.

“She’s the human and magic back up as well as an advisor, basically,” Derek added. “Pack bonds work for her the same way it does for wolves; the stronger the pack the stronger the emissary.”

“Okay, so you need a power boost to kill an alpha of alphas. What’s in it for us? I mean, we could just defeat them ourselves,” Stiles asked, crossing her arms and raising her head.

“Not as you are,” Jennifer scoffed. “With me you could defeat the alpha pack and Deucalion. If you don’t help me, however, I’ll have to use other means.”

“Human sacrifices just so everyone’s clear,” Derek supplied, looking to Isaac then Stiles.

“That is some excellent leverage. What exactly do we need to do?” Stiles asked, leaning her elbow on the table.

“First, of course, you’ll need to pass Deucalion’s test and get back your betas. After that, Derek will need to accept me as his emissary, and you’ll all need to come together and strengthen your pack. Then, we can decide on our battle plan with a few of my requirements,” Jennifer said before taking a sip of her drink. “It’ll take time, but I’m sure it’s preferable to the other methods.”

“So Deucalion’s the alpha of the alphas, right?” Isaac asked, and received a nod. “Why does he care about us at all? Why test us even? We’re not exactly impressive.”

Derek pressed his lips together, and Jennifer smiled. “Deucalion has to pick recruits carefully or he’ll make too many enemies at once. He came here on a rumor about a true alpha.”

“Who and what is a true alpha?” Stiles asked, raising her eyebrows.

“They’re so rare that nobody really knows. Some claim it’s one who becomes an alpha without taking another’s power. Others say it’s an alpha who can transform into a wolf, or it could be something else entirely. The reason Deucalion set up his test was to force the true alpha out. Regardless of whether or not that happens, he’ll stay for Derek.”

“Why?” Isaac asked. “He’s not a true alpha at all.”

“His sister could have been. She could turn into a wolf,” Stiles said, the image of the body she’d dug up appearing clearly in her mind’s eye.

“My mother could as well. I’m not just a born werewolf. I’m a legacy. The Hale family has been werewolves longer than the Argent family has been hunters,” Derek said, eyes on the table.

“So what? This Deucalion guy is just going to wait around for you to turn into a wolf?” she asked, taking a drink from the cup in front of her.

“That or kill him, but he’s patient so it could be a year or two before it gets to that point,” Jennifer said with a shrug. “We have time so long as you finish the first test.”

“Speaking of which,” Derek said, giving Stiles a sharp look as he plucked his drink out of her hand. “We need to get on that, if you’ll excuse us. I’ll find you when we’re finished. Nice meeting you, Jennifer.”

“Yeah, nice meeting you,” Stiles repeated, scrambling to stand up as Derek and Isaac stood in complete synchronization.

“Good luck,” Jennifer said, smiling in a way Stiles found almost creepy.

“First things first,” Derek said once they were out of the coffee shop. “Don’t take my drink.”

“It was sitting right in front of me. What were you expecting?” Stiles countered, holding up her hands. “You have great taste by the way.”

Derek closed his eyes for several seconds. “Anyways, let’s head back. If we’re lucky, we might be able to get this ‘test’ done before nightfall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly, my story is not going to look like season 3A at all. This works out for me really well because I don't have to spend forever trying to match things to the show, I get so much more room to play with, and you actually have to pay attention to my story because you can't rely on your knowledge of the show's plot. It's an all around win.


	21. Asking

“There’s one last thing we need to discuss before we head to the bank,” Derek said, leaning on the table they’d covered in schematics and looking at Stiles. “Would you like to officially join my pack?”

“What?” Stiles asked bluntly.

“Say yes,” Isaac said, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“Humans can do that?” Stiles asked, patting Isaac’s hand but not making him move it.

“Yeah, the bond isn’t as strong, but it’s still mutually beneficial,” Derek answered.

“How does that even work? I’m like not,” she said, making whirling motions with her hands. “I’m just your average old human.”

“You’re looking at it too logically. Jennifer is just as human as you are,” he answered, shrugging. “It’s real because we say it is. That’s what makes it official.”

 “Really? Just saying it is enough?” she asked, throwing out her hands to the side.

“Yes, it was the same for Isaac,” Derek said, and Isaac nodded to confirm.

“I…” Stiles trailed off, scratching the top of her head. “How does me joining your pack help exactly? Can you maybe go into that a little bit.”

Derek huffed and rolled his eyes. “The strength of the pack doesn’t come from the individuals. It comes from the bonds. Right now, me and Isaac are stronger than when we also had Erica and Boyd. We need someone who has a bond with each of us. You joining us would be better than picking another werewolf or even joining up with Jennifer or any other emissary right now.”

“Okay, that actually kind of makes sense,”

“Say yes,” Isaac pleaded, squeezing her shoulders.

“Wait, hold on a sec, I have a few more questions,” she said, turning back to Derek. “Are you only asking because of Jennifer?”

Derek looked a little like he was swallowing a lemon head, but he answered, “Not really, I’ve been thinking about asking you since that conversation about Scott.”

“Scott’s another thing, what happens to him if I say yes to you?” she asked, feeling a twinge of guilt.

“Nothing, it actually does take an alpha to make it official. Betas, or betas and humans, can be strong as a group, but not in the same way a pack can be.”

“I’m not going to ask you to consider him or anything, cause that’d be really shitty, but you do know I’m not going to just be able to drop him completely, right?” she asked, leaning onto the table towards him.

Derek clenched his jaw, but didn’t move back. “Joining the pack doesn’t mean you have to cut yourself off from anyone outside it. Besides, I don’t really care about Scott right now. It’s Erica and Boyd we need to worry about.”

“So, what do you say then?” Isaac asked hopefully.

“Give me five seconds,” Stiles said, lightly elbowing him. “So what all changes if I say yes?”

“We’re pack. Me and Isaac get stronger. I don’t actually know what all happens for humans as I’ve never been on that end of things,” Derek answered, shrugging but watching her carefully.

“That end? You’ve had humans in your pack before?”

“Yeah, they never wanted to be bitten,” he said, tension remaining in his shoulders.

“Okay,” she said, placing the tips of her fingers on her forehead. “So what? I just say yes?”

“Yep, that’s what I did,” Isaac said, clapping his hand on her shoulder.

“Okay, yes I’ll join the pack?” she said, not sure if she was phrasing it right at all.

“Yes,” Isaac exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

“Please don’t squish me,” she said, patting his arms. He loosened his grip and touched his head to hers.

“We can celebrate later, Isaac,” Derek said, interrupting. “We need to get in and out of the bank before nightfall. We’ve still got a full moon to contend with.”

Isaac dutifully moved away, and Stiles could see Derek again. He had the stern face he usually wore before they got into fights, but he also seemed a little pleased; maybe. “You guys clear on your part? Do you need to take any blue prints with you?” she asked.

“We’re good. You’ve got the mountain ash you need?” Derek asked.

“Yep, I’ll be set for when you guys get back. Just make sure you get here before sun down.”

“Sun down,” Isaac sniggered as he followed Derek towards the door.

“I have limited opportunities, Isaac,” Stiles responded.

“Also, if Peter shows up, send him our way,” Derek said, pulling on his leather jacket near the entrance of the loft. Isaac mimicked him almost immediately after.

“Will do,” Stiles said with a nod.

“See ya,” Isaac said as they left, and he shut the door behind him.

Stiles sighed and turned back to the coffee table where she’d left the bag of mountain ash Derek had scrounged up from somewhere. She opened the bag to double check its contents and see that it matched what she’d used to surround the kanima. As far as she could tell, it looked exactly the same. “Note to self: don’t underestimate Derek’s connections,” she muttered, picking up the bag and moving over to the empty area they’d picked to set up the ring.

She slowly poured out the ash into a large and kind of lopsided circle, willing it to create a barrier just as she had the last time she’d done it. She left about a foot and a half of the circle missing. She tied the bag shut despite there being only a pinch or two of the substance left. She could make it stretch when the time came. She tossed the bag onto the couch.

She didn’t have anything to do now that she’d completed her half of their plan. She took to theorizing why Jennifer would want to kill an alpha and debating whether or not she should poke the mountain ash. She kneeled down towards the ash, keeping in mind that she had just joined a werewolf pack. She lowered her hand towards and when she touched it she felt a slight static shock.

“I hope that means it’s still going to work,” she said, walking away and wiping her fingers clean on her pants.


	22. Family

Stiles stopped pacing in a tight circle when she heard the door being unlocked. She checked the sun setting outside the window as she headed over to the door to help open it. “Hurry,” Isaac said as the door opened with an arm wrapped around Erica to support her.

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Stiles said, taking in how ragged Erica looked. She turned away to grab the bag with the last of the mountain ash.

She turned back to see Boyd, looking just as unkempt as Erica, following behind Isaac and Erica, but Stiles frowned at the sight of another girl behind Boyd. “Who’s she?” Stiles asked, wary of this stranger being let into the apartment.

“Derek’s sister,” Isaac said, helping Erica into the circle. “Everyone in, just for precaution like we said.”

Boyd and the sister shuffled into the circle, and Stiles felt better knowing the stranger would be locked inside. She poured the last of the mountain ash into her hand as she walked over to the gap she’d left. She finished as she had before, letting it slip softly through her fingers and believing it would work. She had all the werewolves eyes on her when she finished and brushed her hands off on her pants. “Is it supposed to work like that?” Isaac asked.

“As far as I know,” Stiles said, jumping when she looked up to see the sister standing in front of her and glaring. Her eyebrows looked an awful lot like Derek’s when she did that.

“What?” Stiles asked defensively. “You want to test it out? Go ahead.”

The stranger stepped forward and reached out a hand. It pressed flat against a barrier that made the air shimmer, and her eyes turned gold. “See, it works. We’ll be good for tonight,” Stiles said, smiling impishly at the other girl.

She moved closer to Isaac, pulled him around so that they weren’t facing their three rescues, and whispered to him, “Where’s Derek?”

“Holding off the alphas,” he whispered in return. “I’ll call him in a half hour if he’s not back by then.”

“She really his sister? Isn’t she supposed to be…you know, dead?” Stiles asked, looking back at the stranger still glaring at her and probably listening in.

“Yeah, he didn’t know how either. She might be his old pack and family, but I’m not so sure about her,” Isaac said. “Don’t know if it’s cause she seems mad about everything, or a pack rivalry thing, or just you and Derek rubbing off on me.”

“I wanna know why she’s not dead and didn’t tell anybody. Something is for sure up with that,” Stiles said, crossing her arms. “Let’s just get through tonight first.”

The door opened again, and Derek came in. “Is everyone ready?”

“We’re as good as we’re gonna get,” Stiles said, maybe a little relieved to see him in one piece. “Not much time till sundown.”

Everyone turned to stare out the windows and watch as the sun dipped behind the skyline. Moments later, growling came from the wolves trapped by the mountain ash. “So I guess the stone thing really did work and now over load on moonlight and absolutely no control?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah, not that Boyd and Erica were great beforehand,” Derek said, watching the three shifted wolves pace with a befuddled frown.

“That really your sister?”

“Yeah,”

“Name? Age? Current address? Why she’s still alive and decided to pop up out of nowhere now?” Stiles asked, flinching when the sister tried to claw through the barrier.

“Cora, she’s your age. I don’t know how she survived or where she’s been. We didn’t really have time to catch up,” Derek said, finally looking away.  

“Stiles thinks we need to check things out with her,” Isaac said, coming to stand at Stiles’ side. “I know she’s your family, but I gotta agree with Stiles.”

“Thanks,” Stiles told Isaac sarcastically. She turned back to Derek. “All I’m saying is, given the rest of your surviving family, I’m a little suspicious. I don’t think she could’ve gone through the last few years alone, and we gotta think about that. We don’t know what she wants or what she was doing when the alphas picked her up.”

“I know,” he said, sounding more tired than Stiles had ever heard him. “We need more information, anything they can give us on the alpha pack.”

Stiles noticed that Derek hadn’t said anything really on the subject of his sister, one way or the other. An angry howl interrupted their conversation for several moments. Stiles cringed, but at least they weren’t beating up on each other despite being in a rather tight space. “I’m sorry, though. That she came back like this,” Stiles said, looking away from the trapped werewolves.

Derek raised a hand then dropped it, shaking his head and moving away to sit down heavily onto the couch. “We did good tonight, and we’re set until tomorrow.”

“I need to head out,” Stiles said, checking the time on her phone. “I’ll try to be back as soon as I can in the morning. I suggest maybe starting a conversation about things with them before they can try clawing you up.”

“Alright, Stiles,” Derek said, rolling his eyes.

“See you,” Isaac said, wrapping Stiles in a warm hug.

“I’m coming back tomorrow,” she said, patting him on the back.

“We’ll celebrate then.”

Stiles walked out of the apartment, feeling off from how she usually did. She ignored it and arrived home safe and sound.

“So how was your day long adventure?” her dad asked from his seat in front of the TV.

“Good, we got a lot done,” she said, barely holding back the wonderful news that two missing kids had been found. “How was your day?”

“It was pretty nice actually. I got to sleep in, take an extra-long shower, go to the library and browse. Good day off. Now, I have seen about half the movies you told me to,”

“Oh, cool, which ones?”

“I got them stacked up over here,”

“Did you like any of them?”

“Some were better than others,”

“How so? Explain. What about the characters?”

Despite the trying day with an emissary and joining a pack and a newcomer, Stiles could sit and relax and breathe and listen to her dad talk about some of her favorite characters. He broke them down like they were suspects, picking apart their actions and deciphering their motives in ways she couldn’t find in reviews. She knew her dad best when he was immersed in his element. She took a seat beside him and settled in for a long conversation.  


	23. Breaking the Barrier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a little messy, but it works.

“Just in time,” Isaac side, erring on the side of sarcasm as he opened the door for Stiles.

“Something happen?” she asked.

“A standoff, everyone’s just kind of standing around awkwardly and pretending to look cool,”

“No one’s pretending, Isaac,” Erica called out as they came into the room. “So, Stilinski, how’d this place end up smelling like you?”

Stiles squinted her eyes at the other girl for a moment, noticing that she looked a little better than she had the night before. “I spent time here?”

“An awful lot of it,” the sister, Cora, added with her nose turned up.

Derek rolled his eyes, and Isaac sighed. “You going to let us out?” Erica asked, tapping on the barrier.

“Yeah, any more obvious questions you’d like to ask?” Stiles asked as she walked up to the barrier. She liked Erica, but Cora still bothered her too much to act politely.

“What happened to McCall?” Boyd asked.

“Nothing as far as I know,” Stiles said blithely as she knelt to break the line of mountain ash.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Boyd said, but Stiles ignored him as she broke the line.

“You guys have a little lover’s spat?” Erica asked as she stepped across the broken line. She had a smirk on, but Stiles thought it looked a little too worn and weary.

“No, actually, we had a break up,” Stiles responded, scrunching her nose at actually giving up an answer.

“Didn’t know you had it in you,” Boyd said, patting her on the shoulder once as he moved past her to join Erica.

“McCall your boyfriend?” Cora asked, moving past the line but stopping at Stiles.

Stiles squinted at her, too. “No, just friend, bitten werewolf, courtesy of your uncle.”

“Uncle?” Cora asked, turning to Derek.

“It’s a long story, and we have a few other things to get through first,” Derek said, taking up his battle prep stance again. “We need to discuss the alpha pack.”

“They didn’t actually do anything aside from keep us in a bank vault. They even fed us properly,” Erica said sharply.

“They didn’t discuss their plans around us. They didn’t even talk when they came in to bring us food,” Boyd added.

“It was the same two every time, twins. We got out in one piece. Nothing more to discuss,” Cora said, moving to stand near Erica and Boyd.

“We talked with someone who wants some revenge against them. They said that they’re here looking for a true alpha and expected that this true alpha would come out to rescue you,” Derek explained.

“I heard that, too,” Cora responded, standing up straighter and looking more interested. “I thought it would be one of us. Is it?”

“No,” he said with a harsh finality, shaking his head.

Cora drew back slightly and pressed her lips together. Stiles nudged Isaac. He looked at her, and she tilted her head towards Cora, but he didn’t get it, shaking his head. “What does it matter then?” Erica asked. “What they want isn’t here.”

“Not really,” Cora said, frowning. “Mom was famous for being able to turn into a wolf. Any one of us could theoretically do the same.”

“Laura could, too,” Derek added, ticking it off as just another argument for why the alpha pack was still a problem.

“That’s right,” Cora said, suddenly looking worried. “What happened to Laura? Where is she? How did you become the alpha?”

Derek took in a sharp breath, every muscle in his body tensing. Stiles stepped forward, putting her hand on Derek’s arm. “He didn’t hurt Laura if that's what you're thinking.”

“Who did then?” Cora asked, glaring.

“Peter, he killed her,” Stiles said coldly, and Cora recoiled.

“Uncle Peter killed Laura?” she asked, staring at Stiles for a moment then turning to Derek. Stiles could feel Derek shift his arm, like he planned to reach out for his sister, but he didn’t move. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye.

“Holy shit,” Cora said, shoulders crumpling and moving a hand to touch her forehead. “Holy shit.”

Boyd put a hand on Cora’s shoulder, and Erica moved towards her. “What happened? Where were you?” Cora asked, removing her hand to stare at Derek. “Why didn’t you help her?”

“I wasn’t there. I couldn’t-,” Derek began, cutting himself off and shaking his head.

“It’s not his fault,” Stiles said strongly, stepping in between Cora and Derek. “This isn’t helping anything.”

She turned back towards Derek and began guiding him away from where Erica and Boyd were trying to comfort Cora. “Come on,” she told him, looking to Isaac for some help, but he looked as nearly as upset as Cora. “We’ll just take a breather.”

She eventually got Derek out to the hallway with Isaac only a step behind her. Derek leaned back against the wall and holding his face in his hands. Isaac gently closed the door behind them, but he held up his hands helplessly when she turned to him.

“I fucked up,” Derek said, dragging his hands down his face. “I didn’t mean for her to find out like that.”

Isaac nodded fervently and wide eyed. “Yeah, I get that,” Stiles said, running a hand through her hair. “What do we do about it now?”

“I don’t know,” Derek said.

“Well, we can’t exactly just stay out here,”

“Maybe we should just go back to talking about the alpha pack?” Isaac suggested. “Then you and Cora can talk later?”

“She’s not going to just accept that,” Derek answered, shaking his head.

“Then just tell her what happened with everything,”

Derek clenched his jaw. “I can’t just do that.”

“Then we’ll take Boyd and Erica and explain the deal to them out here and you do something with Cora,” Stiles said, using exaggerated motions to aid her explanation. “Talk to her or something.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know just do something,” Stiles said, waving her hands. “We still need to talk to them and explain everything.”

“Fine,” Derek hashed out, shoulders hunched.

“Okay, me and Isaac’ll just tell Erica and Boyd to take a walk with us to tell them the scoop then we’ll come back here,” Stiles said. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Isaac confirmed and opened the door when Derek gave him a weary nod. Stiles waited for Isaac to go in, but he didn’t move to go in and gestured with his head for her to go in first. She sighed and steeled herself before edging back into the room. Cora had moved to sit on the couch with Erica and Boyd still hovering around her.

Stiles checked behind her to see that Derek and Isaac were flanking her. She turned back to Erica and Boyd, “Are you two alright with giving them a little space to talk?”

They both looked over to Derek, clearly judging him, but Boyd nodded. They moved towards Stiles and Isaac, giving final comforting pats to Cora and brushing past Derek as he moved towards his sister. Stiles awkwardly followed behind the three betas as Isaac led the way out, glancing behind only once to see Derek taking a seat on the coffee table in front of Cora.

“So what’s the deal?” Erica asked once Stiles had shut the door behind them.

“Well, we need to talk about what we kind of want to do next about the alpha pack,” Isaac said, continuing down the hall and Boyd and Erica obligingly follow him. “Derek wanted to be the one to explain it all, but we’ll make do.”

“He actually wants to explain things now?” Boyd asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s a little better one on one,” Isaac said.

“I also think the whole having an apartment thing helps,” Stiles said, picking up her pace to try and walk in line with the group. “Anyways, yeah, we really did find this lady who is out to get the alpha pack. She seems to know them pretty well, and she didn’t lie about anything so far as we know.”

“She wants handle it herself which is kind of nice, but she needs a power boost to do that. So she kinda wants to join up with our pack,” Isaac continued.

“This pack? This pack couldn’t even fight a kanima or Gerard Argent. What power boost could she possibly get?”

“Well, according to her, the alpha pack will take it’s time, like they’re willing to wait for Derek to become a true alpha or shift into a wolf or whatever. So we have time to get stronger as a pack, and that’s what Derek wanted to talk to you about,” Isaac explained, practically walking sideways to face Erica and Boyd as he continued to talk. “He says that because you left you’re not really in the pack anymore. He wanted to tell you that you could join again, but in your own time, however you wanted.”

“What does that mean?” Boyd asked, frowning as they began to head down the stairs.

“Derek says the strength of the pack lies in its bonds,” Stiles said, giving Isaac a break. “He wants to make us all friends or whatever and for you to come back to the pack after like hanging out with us and getting to know each other better. I mean, he probably picked you in the first place because he thought he could get along with you.”

“Why would he think that? He didn’t even know us,” Erica said glumly. “He also didn’t act like he was trying to be friends with us before.”

“True, but he could be worse. And can you really not see it?” Stiles asked. “We’re all a bunch of loner misfits types and some of us even have, you know, dead relatives.”

The three betas stopped and stared at her for a moment. “What?” she asked.

“I guess that explains why he didn’t like Scott then,” Erica said, shrugging. “He tries so hard not to be the loner misfit.”

“You’re only half wrong,” Stiles said, waving that away. “Anyways, point is, Derek wants you to join up with us if you’re willing. What do you say?”

Boyd and Erica shared a glance. “I say we’ll think about it.”


	24. Going Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, Stiles calls the police station HQ.

Stiles bumped into Allison, literally, on her way to the cafeteria. She had a brief moment of panic, trying to find words to spit out, but Allison moved on and away and people filled in the space between them. Stiles sighed, shaking her head, and headed towards the table she and Isaac sat at.

“Hey,” Isaac greeted her as she sat down.

“Do you think it’d be a good idea to go back into martial arts?” she asked, thinking of Allison.

“Uh, you did martial arts before?”

“Yeah, I had a lot of energy as a kid and one of the officers suggested it because she does it,” she shrugged. “So yeah, did it ‘til freshman year when I started doing field hockey and lacrosse.”

“That’s cool, but yeah that’d probably be helpful,” he said. “Which one did you do?”

“Taekwondo that kinda focused more on self-defense, and I did learn some stuff for quarterstaff, in case I ever find myself with a stick I’ll know what to do with it,” she answered with a shrug.

“It’s more than I know what to do. Fighting is just,” he paused to raise his hand. “all instincts as a werewolf.”

“You guys should maybe work on that,”

“I’m pretty sure Derek knows what he knows from experience. Can you teach someone that?”

Stiles frowned, wondering how many fights Derek had to survive to get where he was. “You can’t teach it, but you can give advice off it.”

“Well, I’ll ask for that after he stops being grumpy about Cora,”

“He’s grumpy about Cora?”

“I wanna say it’s emotional overload, like he’s just defaulted to being grumpy.”

“I guess that explains our first meeting,” Stiles said with a sigh. “How are you doing about it?”

“I’m totally right there with him. She bothers me, and I don’t like being in a room with her,”

“I don’t really blame you. I still feel like she has to fit in somewhere bad between Jennifer and the alpha pack,”

“Ugh,” Isaac said, slumping against the table. “I can’t even think about Jennifer. I don’t want to deal with her either.”

“Unfortunately, no matter how much you and Derek hole yourselves up we’ll still have to deal with the alpha pack. However, if we can get Jennifer to deal with them for us, it’ll go that much better,” Stiles explained.

“You’ve already got a plan?” he asked, squinting at her.

“Well, no, not beyond ‘give her the power boost she needs then chuck her at the alphas’,” Stiles said with a half shrug.

Isaac weakly chuckled, but Stiles counted it as a win. Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out to find a text from Lydia asking her for updates. “So Lydia wants to know everything so I’m gonna spend like the next five minutes giving her a spark notes version of this weekend,” Stiles explained.

“Okay, are you going to come by after practice?”

“Nah, I’m going to stop by HQ to see if I can start up taekwondo again like on the weekends or something,” she answered as she typed out a clipped version of their meeting with Jennifer.

“Can I come with?”

“And leave Derek to suffer on his own?” she asked, smiling.

“I think I can live with the guilt,”

“We can bring him back food or something after. Just meet me by my jeep after your track practice.”

“Can do,”

Stiles finished off the text and sent it to Lydia before the bell rang.

She found Isaac sitting on the hood of her jeep after field hockey practice. He had no patches of sweat anywhere on him while she had to hope that hers would dry on the drive over to the police station. “Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, going around the back to throw her things into the trunk. She went around to the driver’s seat as Isaac climbed in. “I think we’ll say hi to my dad then we’ll talk to Rachel.”

“Rachel the lady you did taekwondo with?” he asked as she started up the jeep and pulled out.

“Yeah, Jerry is the one who taught me the quarter staff stuff though,”

“Maybe I should join you,” he suggested, leaning his head against the window.

“I dunno, do you have enough control to get away with looking like you have normal strength?”

He winced. “No, I still run a little too fast, too. Like, I’ve got the big stuff down pretty good, but not the little things.”

“Well, maybe someday then,”

The conversation died, and Stiles started babbling about taekwondo and her best moves for the rest of the trip. She had to park at the back of the police station’s lot, but didn’t complain. They both got out, she locked her jeep, and they headed into the building. Stiles got greetings and a few smiles while Isaac received wary glances. She knocked on her dad’s office door before entering. “Hey,” she greeted, going around to give him a hug around his shoulders.

“Hey,” he responded, straightening from his hunch over the paperwork. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you’d be over at Isaac’s.”

“Well, I wanted to talk to Rachel about getting back into taekwondo. Is that okay?” she asked.

“That’s fine if that’s what you want to do. Just don’t overdo it with the sports, okay? It’s your junior year you know,” he responded, giving her a pointed look.

“I know,” she said, nodding.

“Where’s Derek? Isn’t he normally with you two?” the sheriff asked, capping his pen and raising his eyebrows at the pair of them.

“Uh,” Stiles said as she shifted on her feet, pretty sure that she hadn’t mentioned Derek to her father.

“Yeah, but he’s dealing with the sudden reappearance of his sister,” Isaac said casually, nodding.

Stiles looked at him wide eyed before turning back to her dad with her mouth half open.

“Which one is that? I thought the survivors aside from Derek had all died,” her father said.

“Yeah, well not this one. We don’t know where she came from. We’re having problems adjusting,” Isaac explained, now looking cagey.

“I might have to call him about that,” the sheriff responded, tapping his pen against his desk.

“You have Derek’s number?” Stiles asked.

“Yes, I asked him for it when he and Isaac came in about Isaac’s emancipation. I wanted to make sure I could keep in touch and check that things were okay. I didn’t expect you to start hanging out with them,” her father explained with a shrug.  

“So,” Stiles started. “Okay, I guess. That’s nice. We’re gonna go talk to Rachel.”

She grabbed Isaac and began to tug him out of the room. Isaac still got a wave in before leaving. “I like your dad,” he said. “I should have talked to him years ago.”

“That’s great,” she said earnestly as she led the way down the hall. “I still probably should have mentioned Derek to him.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because,” she said, throwing out an arm. “There’s an age thing, and he got arrested, which was a little my fault.”

“A little your fault?”

“Not important, Dad seems to be fine with me hanging out with him anyways. Let’s just go see Rachel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went for martial arts mostly because of the time Stiles punched Jackson. He knew what he was doing so I'm rolling with it. I was between Karate and Taekwondo because I know Eskrima isn't that popular (neither is Jeet Kun Do really). I decided on Taekwondo because it focuses a little more on kicks then I added the quarterstaff to make up for the fact that Taekwondo is unarmed. It's not a baseball bat, but it's a blunt melee weapon.


	25. Regroup

Stiles hefted the bag of carry out food up higher when Derek opened the door. “One of the fries is mine.”

“What took you so long?” he asked, taking the bag from her and leading the way into the apartment.

“You could say thank you,” Stiles said, following him in and leaving Isaac to shut the door.

Derek grunted something that could pass for appreciation as he took a bite out of the double bacon cheeseburger she’d brought him. It looked horribly greasy, but Isaac had said that Derek seemed to over exercise. “You’re welcome,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

He rolled his eyes and took a seat on the couch. “Better?” Isaac asked, sitting down next to him and setting his feet on the coffee table.

Derek managed to sigh through his mouthful. Isaac nodded sagely and started sipping on his milkshake. Derek wiped his mouth then asked, “Did you only get a milkshake?”

“I didn’t want real food,”

“And I wanted real fries,” Stiles said, plopping onto the couch beside Derek. She pulled a container of fries out of the bag. She savored the first one.

“Where’s Cora?” Isaac asked, looking up at the ceiling.

“With Erica, said she wanted to see her,” Derek said with a shrug.

“You’re alright with her just getting up and leaving? What if they get kidnapped again.” Stiles gave Derek a mock stern look.

“They’re not going to do the same thing twice,” Derek retorted childishly, shaking his head. “If not we’ll go rescue them again.”

“Okay, sorry I asked, I thought you’d be concerned,” she said, making a face at him then turning to her fries.

“What I’m concerned about is why Ms. Hess is still working,” he said before taking a vicious bite out of his burger.

“Why are you talking to Ms. Hess?” Isaac asked, giving him a weird look.

“I’m trying to get Cora enrolled in school, she said she kept up with some of her education, but they still need to do testing or whatever. And Ms. Hess is who they have me talking with,” he explained grumpily.

Isaac laughed. “I’ve heard that she was the worst guidance counselor the school’s ever had.”

“She was,” Derek said, “I had her. She didn’t do anything. I don’t know what her position is now, but she hasn’t gotten any more helpful.”

“Dude, I think you maybe need to take a step back there,” Stiles said smirking. “You are quite worked up about this.  

“I can’t,” he responded, glowering at her. “I’ve literally been dealing with this shit all day. I’m not helping you with college crap next year, Isaac. I’m sorry, you are on your own.”

Stiles shrugged and shoved at least seven fries into her mouth. “By the way, my dad wants to call you.”

“What?”

“My dad,” she said, clearing her mouth and enunciating more. “He’s gonna call you.”

“Why?”

“Cora, there might be legal stuff involved,” Isaac answered.

“Oh,” Derek said, deflating. “Is that why you took so long? You went and talked to the sheriff about me and Cora?”

Stiles held up a finger as she tried to finish her mouthful of fries. “No, about me. I asked him if it’d be okay if I got back into taekwondo, then you came up. How often do you talk? It’s really weird, and I feel like I should be worried about it.”

“We don’t talk about you,” Derek said, rolling his eyes and taking another bite of his burger.

“Well, actually, they do. The sheriff brings you up,” Isaac said, holing up his hand like he’s in class.

“Aw man,” Stiles said, pouting while Derek gave Isaac a disappointed look.

“What? I can’t really help overhearing,” Isaac said.

“We’ll work on it.”

“Feeling better now, then?” Stiles asked.

Derek shrugged. “Well, good, cause I think we should talk a little more about Jennifer now that the rescue is out of the way,” Stiles said, kicking off her shoes before pulling her feet up onto the couch to sit cross legged.

“Why do you insist upon ruining the atmosphere like that,” Isaac asked, taking another sip of his milkshake just to hear a sucking sound. “And now I’m out of milkshake.”

“Suck it up,” she said, flashing him an open mouthed grin that he didn’t appreciate before returning to business. “Anyways, like I told Isaac earlier, I think we should actually go through with it and give Jennifer whatever sort of power up she needs and then just let her do her thing with the alpha pack like alone,” Stiles explained.  “Think we could pull it off?”

“I think we could trick her. It’s not like she could hear us lying,” Isaac said, starting to chew on his straw.

“It wouldn’t even be tricking her. She wants a power boost. We don’t even need to be there when she attacks in order for it to work. Hell, we don’t even need to have a strong bond with her if our bonds are strong,” Derek said, eyebrows lowering as he considered it.

“So yeah cool we’ll go for it?” Stiles asked, munching on the last of her fries.

“Yes, but we’re going to need to have a stronger bond with Cora and officially accept her. Boyd and Erica are still thinking about it?” he asked.

Isaac nodded to confirm.

“I guess we can try to contact Jennifer after we do that. Besides, we just need to prove to Boyd and Erica that we’re better than before,” she said with a shrug.

“Oh, is that all?” Derek asked, rolling his eyes.

“Are we though?” Isaac asked.

“Yes,” Stiles said stubbornly. “We actually had a success without anybody get hurt or used or killed. That sounds like us getting our shit together.”

“True, but now everything’s more complicated because of it,”

“That’s generally what happens when you add variables,” Stiles said with a smirk.

“That really makes me wish it was summer,”

“Yeah, taking school out of the equation would be really helpful,”

“Yeah, but like, over the summer we could just sit and eat. We had one goal. We still kind of have one but it’s got like a bunch of little sub-goals underneath it,” he complained. “I mean, yay success, but like couldn’t that have just been it. Like, whoo, we’re done?”

“You’re thinking of that only now?” Derek asked, eyeing him incredulously.

Isaac shut his eyes. “Don’t give me that look.”

“Hey, at least you don’t have to deal with Scott,” Stiles said, shrugging.

“You’re not dealing with him, you’re avoiding him,” Isaac pointed out.

“Can you not? I’d like to finish this burger,” Derek said, dead pan.

“Fine,” they both huffed.

“Thank you,” he said then took a large bite out of it.

“Still, we should celebrate with Chinese food on Friday,” Stiles proposed.

“Cora,” both Derek and Isaac responded.

“Damn, we’ll actually have to eat out,”

Derek made a face, and Stiles burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As one thing gets finished, four more issues crop up.


	26. Valid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I'm going to get into something that isn't really talked about much when it comes to people who enter the supernatural world. How can you be sure of yourself when nearly all the people around you would not believe you if you ever told them of your experiences?

“We need to talk,” Lydia said, taking Stiles by the elbow.

“What, why, about what?” Stiles asked as she stumbled along as Lydia led her away from the cafeteria. “Shouldn’t we be going that way?”

“No,” Lydia returned primly.

“Okay,” Stiles said as Lydia pulled her into Ms. Walker’s classroom.

“Ms. Walker, do you mind if me and Stiles eat here?” Lydia asked the teacher.

“No, it’s fine. Sit where you like,” Ms. Walker answered, gesturing to the rest of her room.

Lydia continued to pull Stiles along passed a group of students sitting in the desks closest to Ms. Walker’s to take the desks in the back corner. She dumped her Vera Bradley lunchbox on one of the desks and gestured for Stiles to sit down at the other. Stiles complied with a sigh, sitting down and pulling out her brown bag lunch. “What’s the deal, Lydia?” she asked.

“This isn’t working. I can’t keep pretending everything’s normal,”

“Pretending?” Stiles murmured. Sure, Stiles lied to her dad and a few other people about the actual circumstances of certain events, but everything _was_ different and she was more than convinced that at least her father knew. Hell, the issue with Scott that had never been there before was out in the open with him except for the werewolf parts.

“Yes,” she snapped. “It’s great being out of danger, but I can’t act like nothing happened.”

“Who’s acting like nothing happened?”

“Allison, and Danny definitely doesn’t know the full story. He knows something is up, but I don’t think he knows what,”

“Really? Allison?” Stiles asked, raising her eyebrows and shifting in her seat.

“Yeah, she acts like nothing from before she returned ever happened. She won’t even talk about it when we’re alone,”

“Well, it makes sense if she doesn’t want to be involved anymore,” she answered with a one shoulder shrug. “Maybe she didn’t even want to come back.”

“But I can’t do that. I can’t go back to acting like it was before, not even for her,”

“She does need to own up to it eventually, but she’s the one who has to sort out that her family thrives on murdering others in cold blood,” Stiles said, holding up a finger. “We don’t exactly have to deal with quite that level of a shit fest.”

“At least she’s human,” Lydia snapped.

“You think you’re not?” Stiles asked, wide eyed.

“I should be dead or a werewolf. I’m clearly not either. I have to be something else. I can’t wait for her to figure out her problems in order to find out what I am and where my place is.”

“You want my help?” Stiles asked, tapping her hand on the table. “I’m letting Isaac and Derek handle the Cora front for the moment so I have some time.”

“Not unless you can translate archaic Latin faster than I can,” she said, pressing her lips together.

“Sorry I asked,” she said, holding up her hands.

“I don’t mean to be snappy. I get that you’re trying to help. I’m just frustrated,”

“Usual outlet just not there anymore?” she asked with a small half smile as she lowered her hands.

“No Jackson, no chance of getting my old spot back in school, not even school seems to have any meaning anymore,” she said, staring intently at the black board at the front of the room.

“I completely with you there,” Stiles said with a nod.

“That’s why I can’t deal with Allison being like this. It feels like everything is just a façade that’s trying to fake me out. Allison acting like it didn’t happen feels like she’s trying to trick me, gaslight me back into saying this life is the only thing that was ever real. That I dreamed up everything that happened,” Lydia turned suddenly to Stiles, her look sharp. “Do you feel like that?”

Looking at the front of the classroom where the other students were chatting with Ms. Walker, Stiles could see where she was coming from. “School’s become less important, like it’s just going through the motions or a distraction preventing me from doing what I really need to, but no. Derek makes it real.”

“Derek makes it real?” she asked flatly.

“Derek couldn’t exist if the supernatural wasn’t real, if werewolves and kanimas and everything else didn’t exist. He’s been here since Scott got bit and everything started happening. He’s proof,” she explained, waving her hands uselessly.

“Derek gives you validation,” Lydia said almost breathlessly and looking like she just had an epiphany. “Everything you’ve experienced, all those people dying or disappearing, you can cope because Derek validates your experiences. He proves that it happened, it matters, it’s real. I wanted to talk to Allison about it. She’s who I met when Scott got his power up. I wanted validation from her, but I’m not going to get it from her until she talks about it.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair with a slight smile. “You’re welcome?” Stiles said warily.

“Thanks,” she said, sitting up again. “I think that was what I needed.”

“Do you want to talk to Derek or something? You probably should sort out what Peter did to both of you.”

Lydia frowned. “Would he actually want to talk to me?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about you at all.”

“I guess it would be alright if we did meet properly, but don’t force it or anything.”

“Okay,” Stiles said. She turned back to her food until a new question formed in her mind that made her stomach sink. “Aside from not mentioning the stuff that happened, has Allison been acting weird at all?”

“No, it just seems like she’s trying too hard to act like nothing happened.”

“Does she mention Scott at all?”

“No, why?”

Stiles swallowed thickly. “I think he might have hurt her.”

“What?” Lydia snapped, leaning towards her. “What makes you think so?”

“I learned about a few things he’s done, and when I confronted him about it he didn’t really think what he’d done was wrong. He might have done the same to Allison. I know they broke up, but if he did nothing wrong why would she not even mention him?”

“I will hurt him if he has,” Lydia said, looking completely serious in the threat.

“Then we need to ask Allison,” Stiles said, moving to collect her lunch.

“No, I’ll handle it,” she said, stilling Stiles. “She’s my friend, I can do it.”

“Okay,” Stiles said, settling again.

“This is going to be messy,” Lydia said with a sigh.

“That’s generally how hunter and werewolf relations end up,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Derek is a little more than a friend to Stiles. I imagine Stiles and Lydia are in radically different mental spaces when it comes to the supernatural than the rest of the werewolves. For them, the proof is in their very being, but Stiles and Lydia don't have that kind of assurance. Allison should be in the same spot, but I think that she would have accepted being a hunter into her identity enough to give her a solid grounding for her belief. However, I think she'd have a harder time accepting what she did and owning up to it and trying to make amends. 
> 
> Also, it's really hard to get Allison in because she's like Stiles' friend of a friend.


	27. Text

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being so late on this. I couldn't decide between Scott and Cora, but ended up picking Cora. But it is a longer chapter than normal.

Stiles spent most of the rest of the week trying to give Lydia significant looks in the hallways without tipping off Allison. Lydia always pursed her lips and rolled her eyes before looking away. It took Stiles two days to realize that Allison had started giving her weird looks. Stiles figured walking away quickly was the best course of action in that case.

At the same time, Isaac started using her to lean all of his exhaustion on. He would rest his arm on top of her shoulder, slouch against her if they sat close enough together. Once or twice he even rested his chin on the top of her head. “Cora?” she asked the first time he had done it.

“Yup, I’m pretty sure something’s going to explode or break sometime soon,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“Call me when it happens. I’ll be back up,”

“Sure,” he said, pulling away and patting her on the shoulder.

“I can help,”

“I believe you. I just don’t want it to happen in the first place,” he said, grimacing and looking down at his hands as he wrung them out.

“We’ll make it,” she promised, catching Scott out of the corner of her eye.

She couldn’t help turning towards him and came to see his puppy face of confusion. When it looked like Scott was going to open his mouth, Stiles grabbed Isaac’s arm. “Let’s get going.”

“Isn’t your class the other way?”

“I’m taking the long route,” she said, trying to pull him into moving at a faster pace.

“Uh huh,” he said, rolling his eyes and continuing to walk with the same lazy gait.

She gave him a sharp glare and told herself she was just waiting to hear back from Lydia on Allison. She released his arm when she checked behind her and didn’t see Scott. “We still on for Chinese Friday?”

“Hell yeah,” Isaac said. “I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing that’s keeping me and Derek from ripping out hair out in frustration.

“Your own or each other’s?” she asked with a grin.

“All of it, just,” he shrugs a little helplessly. “All of it.”

“Yikes, dude, we better get ice cream after or something,” she said, giving him a wary look.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to have ice cream during the season,”

“Sh, no one needs to know,” she said, reaching up to try and cover his mouth.

He easily dodged, smiling impishly at her. “It’s okay, me and Derek won’t tell,”

“You better not,”

He rolled his eyes. “Go to class, Stilinski,” he said, mimicking his coach.

“Really? That’s your impression,” she said as she began to walk away backwards. “That’s just sad.”

“Shut up,” he said, making a face and waving her off.

She couldn’t help but laugh. Though they hadn’t really planned anything official, Friday evening arrived with a honk outside her house. Her dad sighed heavily and motioned for her to get out of the house. “Wait, have you got your phone and money?”

“Yes, dad,” she said, rolling her eyes as she pulled on her shoes. “I’ll see you later.”

“Alright, have fun, don’t make too much noise,” he said, waving.

“Us, make noise?” she said, laughing when he gave her a flat look. She made it out of the house and shut the door behind her.

Isaac leaned out the passenger window of the Camaro. “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

“You did not,” Stiles shouted back at him.

“This car is nice enough for that reference. I couldn’t waste the opportunity.”

“Man, I wanted to be the one to do it,” she complained as he got out of the car to let her crawl into the back.

Derek had the back of his hand pressed to his lips. “What happens if I get stuck?” Stiles asked as she made her way to the back seat.

“You won’t get stuck,” Derek promised, not removing his hand.

“Alright, I’m in,” Stiles announced loudly for Isaac’s benefit. He pushed the chair back into place and climbed back in.

“I got everyone the usual,” Derek told them.

“But with extra egg rolls this time,” Isaac answered.

“You’re the only one that even eats them. Hey, can we do donuts in an empty parking lot?” Stiles asked as Derek pulled away from the curb.

“Hell no, we’d have to be out until like 2 a.m. for that,” Derek replied, shaking his head.

“Worth it, totally worth it, tomorrow is Saturday,” Stiles said, leaning as far forward as she could get.

“No,”

“Can we drop her off then do it?” Isaac asked.

“Hey!”

“No,”

“Why not?”

“I’m not staying up that late to do donuts in a parking lot,” Derek said firmly. “I’m not letting you drive either. End of discussion,”

Isaac and Stiles sighed simultaneously. She leaned back in her seat as Isaac leaned against the window. The car remained quiet for only a moment. “Have you at least done it once?” Stiles asked.

She leaned forward again when he didn’t answer immediately. He stopped at a stop sign and looked over to her, totally trying to hide a smile. “Dude, you did and you’re holding out on us,” she accused.

“Only once,” he said, turning back to the road. “It’s not actually that exciting.”

“But you’re smiling,” Isaac said, pouting.

“Cause I have something to hold over you two.”

“You’re horrible,” Stiles said, giving him a light punch to the shoulder and not sounding accusatory at all.

“I’m buying you guys food and driving you there,” Derek said. “That is all I signed up for.”

“Fine,” Stiles agreed, dropping back.

Derek parked smoothly in front of the Chinese place, and Isaac helped Stiles awkwardly climb back out of the Camaro. The restaurant was small with most of its space visibly dedicated to the kitchen in the back and the front decorated with cheap furniture and a fridge to show off its soda collection.

“Do you want to eat here or go somewhere else?” Derek asked.

“Let’s eat outside,” Isaac suggested, moving to lean against the counter.

“There’s benches down that way,” Stiles said, waving her arm in a general left direction.

“Loitering it is,” Derek said before turning to the lady behind the counter to pick up and pay for their order. Isaac picked up a packaged fortune cookie and chucked it in Stiles direction. It landed on her nose, and she jumped then fumbled to catch it. It bounced off her hand and hit Derek’s back. Isaac tried to muffle his chuckles with his hand, and Derek gave them both a dark look before apologizing to the lady. He herded them outside after grabbing the bag of food and cheap chopsticks and Isaac had sneaked a few more fortune cookies.

“How many did you take?” he asked as he led the way to the bench.

“Three, five?” Isaac said, holding up his hands with several fortune cookies cupped in them.

“Are you allowed to take that many?” Stiles asked, plucking one out of the pile.

“They _were_ there for the taking,”

“Don’t eat them before dinner,” Derek groused, taking the center of the first bench they came to. Isaac and Stiles flanked him. “Here, take the napkins and chopsticks.”  

Stiles took the offered napkins and chopsticks and made herself comfortable on the bench by pulling her feet up and sitting cross-legged. “Stiles, this is yours,” Derek said, passing her a carton.

“Thank you,” she said and moved to open it when her phone buzzed.

“Who’s that?” Isaac asked as Stiles pulled out her phone.

“It is,” Stiles began as she read the text. “Heather.”

She had sent **what’s up?**

“Oh god, do I need to leave?” Derek asked.

“No,” Stiles said, and sent Heather **eating with Derek and Isaac**.

**Ooh ask them for a pic**

Stiles sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do you guys mind if I take a picture of you? I’ve been telling Heather about you and she wants to know what you look like for reference, but I don’t actually have any pictures of you.”

“It’s cool,” Isaac said immediately. “Do we get a picture of her?”

“I can ask,” she said. “What about you Derek?”

“Fine,” he said, pulling away from his food.

“Alright,” she said, holding up her phone. “Smile, or not look grumpy in Derek’s case.”

Derek rolled his eyes while Isaac grinned broadly. Stiles took the picture once Derek’s eyes had landed back on her phone. “No flash and normal eyes,” she said, flipping her phone’s screen towards them.

“Yeah, and you can still see our faces,” Isaac said, reaching over Derek to touch the phone. “I say it’s good to go.”

“Sweet,” she said, sending it to Heather and telling her **there you go derek is the beardy one**.

She set aside her phone to start on her meal. “Wait, did you ask her about getting a pic of her?” Isaac asked.

“I’ve got one,” Stiles said, pulling up her photos and landing on a decent and somewhat recent one of Heather. “Don’t go poking through my pics.”

She handed her phone over to Isaac while Derek gave it a wary glance. “It’s not going to bite you, Derek.”

“I wasn’t implying anything of the sort,” Derek said, turning back to his food.

“I don’t know why, but I was expecting her to be like a girl version of Scott,” Isaac said, holding up the phone to study it.

“Yeah, they’re not that alike,” Stiles said with a shrug. She was fairly certain that Scott would never in a million years consider having sex with her. Her phone buzzed while she was in the middle of a bite.

“Do you mind if I look?” Isaac asked.

Stiles shook her head as she finished her bite, and Derek leaned to read along with Isaac. Isaac started laughing while Derek frowned. “What is it?” she asked, making a grabby hand for her phone.

“She thinks Derek’s beard should be illegal,” Isaac said as he handed her back her phone.

The text read **no he can’t be hot and have a good looking beard that is illegal**.

“It’s not even like a full beard,” Derek said, giving the phone a look that could be described as judging. “It’s just stubble.”

“It doesn’t matter. Heather has been totally against beards for like ever,” Stiles explained, reading a new text Heather sent.

**uve totally been holding out on me hanging out with two hot guys**

Stiles snorted and responded **nuh uh ive told u abt them xp**.

Heather texted back immediately, **it explains so much i wouldn’t even want to have sex with me with guys like that around**.

“Stiles,” Derek said loudly.

“I didn’t tell you you could read over my shoulder,” she said, pulling her phone away. “And didn’t you read all of it? We didn’t do anything,”

“You were going to,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“No, we weren’t,” Stiles said to stall.

“Stiles!”

“So were we the reasons you didn’t do it?” Isaac asked, still leaning into Derek space as he had been to read her phone.

“Don’t ask her that,” Derek groused as Stiles said, “No.”

“You just lied,” Isaac said with a laugh, pointing at her.

“This is a disaster,” Derek said, putting a hand over his eyes.

“Not like that,” Stiles said, holding up her hands and back pedaling. “I’m not actually attracted to Heather even if sex is definitely appealing. I just couldn’t get over having to go rescue Erica and Boyd with you two.”

“Oh,” Isaac said, amusement dying down. “That’s not as fun.”

“Nope, but hey, maybe I’ll get to have that conversation about stubble with Heather now,” she said, perking up again.

Derek gaped at her. “Stiles.”

“It’s not going to be about yours,” she said, shaking her head and laughing as he slouched down the bench with a groan. She swore she could see him turning at least a little pink.

Isaac poked Derek in the shoulder. “Should I tell her she lied?”

“I did not.”

“Did too,”

“Shut up or I’m not driving you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Derek knows about Stiles and Heather.


	28. Saturday

Stiles woke to the sound of her phone buzzing. She groaned before rolling over and blindly reaching for it. She eventually had to open her eyes and get them to focus before grabbing it. She rolled onto her back and pulled up her warm sheets to cover herself while she waited for more of her awareness to settle in. It buzzed again, jolting her awake.

She breathed in deeply and began to read the first text. Isaac had sent her **help me**.

She sat up and quickly went to the next text from him. **no one is dead or dying but i think cora might scratch dereks face off and i dont wanna b here for tht**.

She received another text from him as she finished reading. **just come pick me up pls**.

She quickly texted back **ill b there soon**.

She skipped showering in favor of pulling on her cleanest clothes. She brushed her fingers through her hair to try to flatten it down a little from her bed head and headed down stairs.

“What’s got you all in a rush?”her dad asked as she jumped the last two stairs.

“Isaac, I’ll text you if anything happens,” she said.

“Is there a problem?” he asked, straightening up and looking more like a cop.

“Not sure, hopefully not, but I’ll text you if there’s a problem,” she said, pulling on her shoes. “Like I said.”

“Alright,” he said, eyeing her warily.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” she said, waving him off and trying to convince herself. Today was Saturday, they’d had a good dinner the night before, everyone had been happy. She’d slept well and had good feelings and nothing should be going wrong now.

She made her way to Derek’s loft as all of her anxiety started to creep back into her chest. She made herself take deep breaths as she walked from her car up to the apartment. The door into the apartment swung open as she approached it. “Good you’re here,” Isaac said, sighing before giving her a weak smile.

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by the sound of ceramic breaking. “What the hell is your problem?” Cora yelled from farther into the apartment.

Stiles flinched and glanced up at Isaac. His expression had completely crumpled.

“What is wrong with you?” Cora continued to yell. “It’s like you’re not even you anymore.”

Stiles heard heavy footsteps and held her breath.

“Do you even care what happened to me? What happened to your betas? Or Laura? I know you’ve left Peter to hang around. You’re supposed to be an alpha, but you’re not like mom at all!”

Stiles heard her footsteps again, getting louder and heading for them. “Move,” Cora bellowed from behind Isaac.

He scrambled out of the way. Stiles back pedaled to avoid getting stepped on as Cora stormed past muttering, “I can’t stand anymore of this bullshit.”

Stiles waited until Cora was near the stairs before moving to Isaac. She found him sitting with his back against the door and hugging his knees to his chest. “Are you okay?” she asked, warily holding up her hands and wondering what to do.

He brushed his hand through his hair. “I don’t like fights.”

“I know. I get it. Should I do something?” she asked, kneeling in front of him.

“I don’t know. Just give me a minute,” he said, fisting his hand in his hair.

“Okay, okay, I’ll just go check on Derek then,” she said, awkwardly getting to her feet again.

She made her way warily into the kitchen. She found the plate Cora had smashed at the entry way. She didn’t see blood and hurriedly moved on to Derek. He had braced himself with a hand against the counter and his other hand covered his mouth. “You okay?” she asked, moving to stand beside him.

He pulled his hand away. “I’m fine.”

“Okay,” she said, giving him a once over. “What she said was wrong. She wasn’t here when you spent all summer looking for Boyd and Erica. Also, it’s a total dick move for her to compare you to your mom. I have no idea what she was like, but she had a lot more resources and it’s not the same.”

He didn’t really react to what she said. He asked, “Where’s Isaac?”

“He’s not hurt, but did you listen?” she asked, stepping in front of him. “Derek.”

“I listened,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Hey,” Stiles said, automatically reaching out for him to stop and landing her hands on his upper arms. “I’m serious and that takes effort.”

“I got it, Stiles,” he said, finally looking at her. He definitely looked grim, but he didn’t look horribly upset. She felt his hands on the outside of her elbows as he turned them so he could move past her. He released her and said, “I need to check on Isaac.”

Stiles grit her teeth and threw her arms up helplessly before following after him. She rounded the corner to see Derek already kneeling in front of Isaac. She drew closer as Isaac shifted positions to talk with Derek. Isaac reached out and fit his arms over Derek’s shoulders in a loose hug. She paused as she watched Derek hesitantly reciprocate it. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt as she waited for something to happen. When Derek adjusted his hold to rub Isaac’s back, she headed for the door.

“Stiles,” Isaac said as she passed.

“Yeah?” she asked, turning back to face them.

“Don’t go,” he said, pulling away from Derek.  

“I won’t,” she said. She knelt down beside them, and Isaac hooked his arms over her shoulders like he had done with Derek. She put her arms around him and leaned in as close as she could comfortably get to give him a squeeze. “Better?” she asked Isaac.

“Yeah,” he said with a small nod. “I think we should get that ice cream we didn’t get last night.”

“Sure, but I think we’re going to walk this time,” Derek said.

“I’m down with that if someone’s paying. I didn’t bring any money,” Stiles said, pulling away now that Isaac had loosened his grip on her.

“It’s fine so long as you go easy on the toppings,” he said with a shrug.

Isaac chuckled as Stiles gave him a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I can totally do that,” Stiles said.

“I see why you get into so much trouble. You don’t have to go big just because you broke a rule, you know,” Derek said fixing her with a pointed look.

“Yeah, technically speaking I know,” she shrugged. “But I feel like it needs to be worth it.”

Isaac burst into a new round of laughter and dropped his head onto her shoulder. Derek just shook his head.


	29. Differently

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back after what I thought would be a short break and turned out to be much longer. You'll notice that this chapter is chapter 29 instead of 30 because I redid the beginning of this story. 9 chapters were edited and one was deleted. I actually make a reference to one of the changes in this chapter so you might want to reread them.

“You know I thought you’d be looking better,” Stiles said as she caught up with Isaac on the way to the cafeteria.

“Same, and like clearly it was a bad idea for Cora to be living with us and her living with Erica will be better for everyone,” he said then shrugged. “I don’t know. I still feel kinda guilty about it.”

“I’m not feeling it,”

“You didn’t live with her. I don’t really like being the dick roommate,” he said, readjusting his bag on his shoulders.

“You were okay with being a dick last year,” she pointed out lightly.

“Okay a little, but I like to think I’ve improved since then,” he said giving her a pointed look before shaking his head. “It’s just me and Derek got the whole living together thing sorted out and everything so I kinda feel like we should have been able to get used to Cora, but we didn’t, so I feel bad.”

“She shit on Derek and messed you up,” Stiles said, grabbing Isaac’s arm. “She was clearly in the wrong. Nothing to be guilty about.”

They walked into the cafeteria, heading automatically to the table Boyd had left empty. They stopped when they saw that Boyd had returned to his seat and Erica sat with him. “We should find another table,” Isaac whispered to her as Boyd and Erica both turned to look at them.

“Yeah, good idea,” she said as they turned away from the table.

“Stiles, Isaac,”

They turned back to find Erica motioning for them to sit down with them. Isaac motioned for Stiles to go first, and she rolled her eyes. She took the seat next to Erica, and Isaac sat on her other side.

“We’ve made up our minds,” Boyd said, watching them.

“And?” Stiles asked, not able to stop herself from glancing over to Isaac.

“We can’t act like we’re not involved,” Erica said slowly. “We don’t know if they’ll come after us again. Derek wasn’t lying. We were stronger together even if we didn’t know each other well.”

“We don’t like what happened between you and Cora,” Boyd added, and Stiles clenched her jaw.

“But we need to be safe,” Erica finished quietly.

“I’m sorry about Cora,” Isaac said. Stiles made a face, but said nothing.

“She’s been in a bad mood since we got out. I don’t like it any more than you do,” Erica said with a sigh.

“What does she think about this?” Stiles asked.

“We didn’t tell her,” Boyd answered.

“She wanted to go back to her brother in the first place. It was pretty much all she talked about. She’ll come around, but we thought it might be better if we went and tried it out first,” Erica explained.

“So what do you want to do about it?” Stiles asked, resting her arms on the table.

“Lunch together is good enough for a start,” Boyd said.  

“I’m good with that,” Isaac said, opening his lunch and smiling.

Stiles opened her own lunch more slowly. “What do you guys want to talk about then?”

“I want to hear about this break up between you and McCall,” Erica said, smiling in a way that reminded Stiles of when she’d first been bitten.

“Not much to it. He was being a dick who didn’t apologize so I told him not to talk to me until he stopped being a dick and apologized,” she answered with a shrug.

“Didn’t know you had it in you,” Erica said, looking her over.

“I’ve been dealing with werewolves for months, why wouldn’t I have it in me?”

“You think I don’t know what it’s like to give an ultimatum like that to the last friend?”

“He wasn’t,” Stiles said, shaking her head. “He wasn’t my last friend.”

“Closest then.”

Stiles ate a bite of her sandwich to keep from saying anymore.

“Does anybody want to hear about the puke yellow cabinets we used to have in the kitchen?” Isaac asked. “I have a lot of funny renovation stories about me and Derek.”

Erica smiled, and Boyd looked over to Isaac.

“Actually, I should start with the time we thought we broke the toilet.”

* * *

 

“Hey, Derek,” Stiles loudly greeted when she and Isaac returned to the apartment after practice.

He held a finger to his lips before moving away to continue listening to someone on the phone. He hung up after promising the person on the other end of the line that they’d be there. “What is it, Stiles?”

“Body and Erica want to join us again,” Isaac announced first, raising his hands in celebration.

“I was going to tell him,” Stiles whined, lightly smacking his side.

“I said it first,” he said, smiling at her.

“Even after what happened with Cora?” Derek asked, looking between the two of them.

“Yeah, they said they didn’t tell her about it, but they want to be safe. They also didn’t say if they were going to join up just yet, but they’re willing to hang out with us,” Stiles explained.

“That’s mostly good. I don’t think Cora will be too happy about it,”

“Yeah, and grumpy Hales aren’t very fun to be around,” she commented, and Derek glared at her. “So what was that phone call about?”

“I finally set up a time for Cora to take the tests she needs to for school. They might be able to place her within a week,”

“When’re the tests?” Isaac asked.

“Two days so I need to call her now,”

“Good luck with that,” Stiles said, snorting and crossing her arms.

“Not helpful, Stiles,”

“Let’s go get snacks so we don’t have to listen in on that painful conversation,” Isaac said, heading for the kitchen.

“So do you think everything’s going to get easier after they join up or harder?” Stiles asked as they searched the pantry.

He tilted his head. “Differently hard.”

“Yeah, making friends is a little different from defeating supernatural creatures.”

“Less life threatening,”

“I’d say true but we need these friendships to defeat supernatural creatures,” she said with a wry smile.

“We won’t really be friends if we think about it like that,” he said, frowning. “Cause then we’d just be using them and their friendship, right?”

“But we all have the same goal.”

“We have the time to become friends normally.”

“Then we’ll do that,” she said, pulling out a granola bar. “You should convince Derek to get pudding cups.”

“I’ve already tried and failed with jello.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a very exciting chapter but we're moving forward. So hopefully I can go back on schedule and get another new chapter up this weekend. Unfortunately, I think that means dealing with Scott which I'm loath to do.


	30. Talk

Stiles laughed and sat down in one of the seats outside of the office. “Look at you all properly entering the school with a visitor’s badge and everything.”

Derek glared at her. “Don’t you have class?”

“You don’t even have a leather jacket on,” she said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. “Nobody has class. Didn’t you hear the bell ring?”

He rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat.

“Something wrong?” she asked with a grin.

He gave her a halfhearted glare.

“Is it a being here in the daytime thing or a being here when there’s people thing?”

“Both, obviously,”

She put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s a good thing the office is on the way to my third period then isn’t it?”

“Not in the slightest,”

She shoved his shoulder to no effect, and he smiled at the attempt. He leaned back in the chair and drew level with her. His smile then faded. “Scott’s coming.”

“How can you even tell?” Stiles asked, leaning forward to try and pick him out of all the students passing in the hallway. She spotted as he came around the corner. He paused for a second before resolutely moving towards them. He nodded to each of them.

Derek looked to Stiles, and she shrugged in response. “What are you here for, Scott?” Derek asked calmly and looked Scott in the eyes.

Stiles watched as he clenched and released his hand. “I’m ready to apologize,” he said. “To both of you.”

“Really?” Derek asked, looking unimpressed. “Not a good time or place.”

“I didn’t actually mean to do it here,” he said, shifting on his feet. “I just wanted to let you know. I’m not really sure how I’d tell you otherwise.”

“We’ve got the message now,” Derek said, making a motion for Scott to move along.

Scott looked to Stiles, and she sighed. “I still need to talk to Allison.”

“Allison? Why? I didn’t do anything to her. I haven’t even had the chance to talk to her since she moved back.”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure she’s not seeing you for a reason,” Stiles corrected, rubbing her hands and staring Scott down.

“Should I try to talk to her then?”

Stiles laughed. “Sure if you want Lydia to rip your balls off. I wouldn’t put it past her at this point.”

“You talk with Lydia?” he asked, brows furrowing.

“Yeah, I do, and trust me she’s not happy with just the possibility that you’ve hurt Allison,” she said, setting her hands in her lap.

“I haven’t hurt her ever,” he said, shaking his head and taking a step forward.

Derek sat up straight.

“Then why does she refuse to talk about you?”

Scott ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either.”

He sighed. “Fine, just tell me if you find out, and tell me when you’re ready to hear my apology.”

“I will,” Stiles promised. Derek said nothing, and Scott moved on towards his class.

“This is a mess,” Derek said, leaning back again.

“He’s trying to do the right thing, apologizing and all,”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure I want his apology.”

“That’s up to you. I’d like my old friend back,”

Derek looked at her sharply. “And if he doesn’t come back?”

The bell rang, and Stiles looked away. “I’ve got to go.”

He stood with her. “I’ll see you later, Stiles.”

“I’ll tell Isaac to stop by and see you,” she said, smirking.

“Please don’t,”

“See ya,” she said, ignoring his comment and waving as she headed for class. Lydia sat next to her in that class, and Stiles had the perfect opportunity to bring up Allison again.  

“Hey,” Stiles said, tapping her arm.

“What?” she asked, still mostly focused on the teacher.

“You need to step up with Allison,”

“What? Why?” Lydia asked, turning from the teacher to face Stiles.

“Scott wants to apologize to me and Derek. I told him he might need to apologize to Allison, too,”

“I’m not sure she’s ready to talk,” she said, rolling her pencil between her fingers. “I’ve been trying, and I’m not going to force her or anything.”

“Fine, we can just make Scott wait,” she said, laying her arms out on the desk.

“Or I could ask Allison if she wants to talk to him,”

“Really?” Stiles asked, eyes wide. “I thought you wouldn’t let him in five feet of her.”

“That’s up to Allison,”

“Do what you want to do then, I guess,”

“I intend to,” Lydia said primly then turned back to the teacher.

Stiles slouched back in her chair. She had known Scott longer than Derek and Allison. She knew what he had been like before he had been bitten. She didn’t know if that meant she had more experience and knowledge on the matter or if she was now being blindsided by something that had passed. She wandered through the rest of the school day, more concerned with how to respond to Scot’s apology than with what her teachers said. Her focus returned momentarily for field hockey, as aiming was easier to think about than Scott. She found Isaac by her car again afterwards.

“Did you hear that Cora took her tests today?” he asked.

“Yeah, saw Derek and everything,” she said, pausing at the driver’s door.

“You gonna unlock it?”

“Sorry, Isaac, I don’t think I’m going over to the apartment today,” she said with a sigh, moving towards the front of the car to talk to him.

“Why not? You always come over,”

“I got something else to do,”

“Okay,” Isaac said warily. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Bye,” she said, waving before getting into her jeep. She drove home without the radio off. She trudged up to her room, dropping her bag from her shoulder and letting it thud on the floor. She pulled out her phone and stared at it for several moments.

She called.

“Hey, Stiles, you don’t usually call.”

“Yeah, I think I just needed to hear a voice this time,” she said and took a deep breath. “Heather, do you think people change?”

“How about I just set my homework aside first?” she asked, and Stiles heard a thud over the line. “What’s this about people changing?”

“Just, do you think they change, you know, movies talk about it, a spiritual journey or something like that,” Stiles babbled out, running her hand through her hair.

“You’re not planning on living out on the preserve or something, are you?”

“No, it’s just, things have gotten a little weird between me and Scott,”

“What exactly do you mean by weird, cause we’ve agreed to have sex and that’s not a very friendly thing,”

“No, no, not anything like that,” Stiles said, laughing awkwardly. “I’d be a lot more freaked if he had suggested sex. No, I’m kinda thinking that maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did,”

“Okay, so not sex weird then. Has he like joined like the popular crowd or something? He’s always been weird about being on par or better than Jackson,”

“Sort of, I guess, but I have new friends now too,”

“So do I, it happens,”

“Yeah, but you’re in a different school,”

“What do you want then Stiles? To tell you that you’ll be friends forever? I haven’t even talked to Scott in like over a year,”

“No, but I can’t just dump him, metaphorically. I think I’ve already done it literally,”

“What do you mean you dumped him literally? Isn’t he bigger than you?”

“I kinda forced him out of my car once,”

“Oh, that’s a little serious. You can metaphorically if you want to, especially cause it seems like you are at that point. I’ve kinda just accepted that me and Scott aren’t friends. Maybe you just need to let him do his thing so you can do your thing,”

“Yeah, but like, what if something bad happens to him because of it? He’s also trying to change and make it up to me,”

“That is a completely different problem than what you made it sound like. I thought this was a past change realizing it now and not a he’s trying to change now and if he’ll actually do it thing,”

“Sorry, it’s just like a huge mess it feels like,”

“Maybe you’re just growing apart. It happens. Don’t waste time on people who don’t deserve it,”

“What if I don’t deserve it?”

Heather sighed. “I think you do. If you think you’ve done something wrong with Scott then apologize for it when he apologizes for his mistake. That’s what mom always says to do.”

“Yeah, my dad’s kinda told me something similar before,”

“Then what are you even asking me for? You dad is like much better at this relationship-talk-y thing than me,”

“Yeah, but he knows Scott as the friend of his kid, not as a friend,”

“Oh yeah, right,” she said, chuckling.

“I guess I’ll just deal with it later. I’ve got homework to do now,”

“Good luck,”

“Thanks, bye,”

“Talk to you later, Stiles,”

After Heather hung up, Stiles tossed her phone up towards the head of her bed and sat for another few moments considering her options. She got up to get a snack then start on her homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now I guess I've started the long process of dealing with Scott. 
> 
> I'm still trying to get into the swing of it a little bit.


	31. Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I'm going to continue with the theme of going through all the things Teen Wolf refuses to talk about. Allison is probably a little more indoctrinated into being a hunter than she was on the show, but she did grow up in a hunter household. She also spent like three months with just her father.

Stiles turned away from her locker and jumped when she saw Allison standing too close for it to be coincidence. “Hey, Allison,” Stiles said, as charmingly as she could.

Allison barely even blinked at the greeting. “Whatever you and Lydia are up to, I don’t care. Leave me out of it. Just stop.”

“We’re not up to anything,” she said, holding up her hands and shaking her head. She dropped her hands when Allison began glaring at her. “Lydia is just trying to look out for you.”

“I don’t need her to look out for me. You’re just trying to draw us both back in. Are you hoping we’ll get hurt or worse?”

“I literally just said Lydia is trying to help you. She’s concerned about you, and she came to me. I didn’t do any sort of drawing. There was no drawing involved,” Stiles insisted, making a wiping motion with her hand.

“Really? You think Lydia would be able to handle all the supernatural crap in this town?”

Stiles frowned, wondering just how much Allison listened to Lydia. “She thinks she is supernatural. She just wants to talk with you. We just want to make it through okay. I thought you would understand and help.”

“You’d survive better if you let it go and walked away,” Allison said, shaking her head.

“There is no walking away. You can’t erase anything that’s happened,”

“I walked away,” she stated, crossing her arms.

“Not very well if you’re standing here talking to me,” Stiles flashed her a small smile. “If you don’t want to help us with the supernatural, at least help me with Scott. We want to know what he’s been up to so we know whether or not we should accept his apologies. And I guess later, judge if he’s changed or not.”

“Who’s we?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Me and Derek, I wanted to get you in on it so we could go at Scott huge lawsuit case style,” she answered, smushing her hands together to illustrate.

“Screw Scott, he’s the one that got me into this mess in this first place. And why would I ever want to help Derek? He killed my mother,”

Something black rose up the back of Stiles throat and for once smothered all the fear the supernatural had sprouted in her. “Your aunt burned his entire family alive inside their own house. If Derek did kill your mother, be glad he didn’t decide to pay retribution life for life.”

Allison shook her head, lips thin and jaw clenched.

“And it wasn’t Scott who got you into this. You were born into this, Argent. Do you really think you can walk away just because you and your dad say you quit? Do you think you’ll live just because your father will kill for you?

“He doesn’t kill,” Allison retorted, hands tightened into fists.

“He has and he will. You don’t still think you moved so much because you sell guns, do you? How many dead bodies do you think your family left in each place you left?” Stiles asked, and she would have yelled it to her if she had thought no one else would hear. “How many people did they get away with killing?”

“Not people, werewolves,” she hissed.

“Say it like that again, and I will rip your tongue out of your throat,” Stiles snapped, taking a step towards her. “Your family lied to you. You’re not hunters. You’re murderers.”

“We keep people safe,”

“Yeah, because turning Peter into what he is now definitely kept people safe. Good job there.” Stiles said as sarcastically as she possibly could and began to head towards her next class. “Sorry for trying to help you and Lydia out. Talk to you never”

She walked away without looking back for Allison's reaction. She managed to let go of most of her anger by the end of the period. She still had heated flashes of anger whenever she thought of the conversation she had with Allison. On the drive to Derek’s apartment after practice, Isaac didn’t talk much, seeming to sense something was up. He didn’t ask though, and after a minute or two Stiles began babble on about the book they were reading in her English class.

“We’re back,” Isaac announced after he’d unlocked the door to the apartment.

Derek mumbled a greeting, more focused on his book. He had left a half built bookshelf sitting beside the couch.

“You should knight me,” Stiles said, flopping down onto the couch. She kicked off her shoes, pulled her legs up then tapped her feet against Derek’s thigh to get his attention.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, lowering his book.

“I defended your honor today,” she said, the last of her anger leaving her.

“Against who?” Derek asked, finally looking up.

“Allison,” she said with a sigh before slouching down in her seat. “I was kinda hoping that Gerard had just been controlling her, but no.”

“I don’t like Allison,” Isaac commented, sitting on the coffee table. “She kinda gave me the creeps before. She’s also stabbed me in the back literally.”

“She was nice enough before she knew about all the werewolf stuff. Now, I’m not totally sure where she falls, except that it’s not our side.”

“The alpha pack is still a bigger concern than she is. We can let her be for now,” Derek said.

“Lydia would hopefully tell me if Allison decides to do something,” Stiles shrugged. “In any case, I don’t think I’m going to be worrying about what happened between her and Scott anymore.”

“I wish all the Argents had stayed away. I don’t like there being hunters and an alpha pack in town,” Isaac said, stubbornly crossing his arms. “Even if there’s only two Argents now.”

“Yeah, Allison said you killed her mother,” Stiles said, turning to Derek. “Is that true?”

“I don’t think I killed her, but you remember when I told you to break the mountain ash so I could get to Scott?”

“Yeah,”

“She had been trying to kill him by vaporizing wolfsbane.  My priority was getting him out, not killing her,”

“I don’t want to deal with another death,” Isaac said tiredly. “Can’t we just watch a movie?”

“I say good call,” Stiles said with a sharp nod.

They both looked to Derek. “Fine,” he said, setting his book aside.

“Yeah,” Stiles said.

She and Isaac high fived.

“How about that bookshelf though, Derek?”

“Shut up, I was taking a break.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hunters are hugely unethical but no one talks about it on the show. Basically, I'm starting Allison's character arc to creating the new code for the Argents. Most of it won't be on screen cause Stiles isn't going to be involved in that, unfortunately.


	32. Conversations

“What did you do to Allison?”

The pen Stiles had stuck in her mouth slipped from between her lips. She quickly wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “What?”

“You had to have done something. She was closed off for a day but now she’s starting to ask me about supernatural things,” Lydia said, giving Stiles a pointed look.

“What makes you think it was me?”

“Who else could it have been?”

“Scott?”

Lydia gave her a flat look.

Stiles rolled her eyes. “Yeah, fine, I kind of snapped at her. I don’t regret it.”

Lydia tapped her hand on her desk. “Aside from the fact she’s upset, I don’t think I do either. What exactly did you tell her?”

“I meanly told her her family was effed up and that she can’t just act like she isn’t involved with the supernatural. She did become a hunter,”

Lydia frowned. “What all did she do as a hunter?”

“She started off on Scott’s side, but I don’t think she was on our side after what happened at HQ. I know she has a grudge against Derek, stabbed Isaac, and probably had something to do with Erica and Boyd’s kidnapping,”

“That sounds bad,” she said warily, looking away from Stiles. “I still feel out of the loop.”

“Yeah, sharing info on supernatural stuff is not easy,” Stiles said, and reached out for Lydia. “I know Gerard was involved, but I don’t think it was exactly what happened with Peter and you.”

Lydia flinched. She curled her hands into fists. “You think she made a choice.”

“I think,” Stiles said, and pulled her hand away. “I know she thinks things I don’t agree with.”

“I need to talk to Allison,” Lydia said, determined. “Can you maybe stay away from her for a week?”

“Yeah, definitely, do what you gotta do,” Stiles said, holding up her hands.

“Thanks,” she said, shoulders dropping. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Stiles said, watching as she walked away.

 

Stiles sat with Isaac, Erica, and Boyd at lunch. No one said anything. Stiles desperately wanted to be saying anything, but had no idea what. Isaac kept fidgeting. Boyd looked bored, and Erica glanced between them all.

“So, how ‘bout that English homework?” Stiles asked.

“We’re all in different classes,” Boyd said.

“Right,” Stiles said, quickly turning back to her food.

“Sports?” Isaac offered warily. “This was a lot easier at the beginning.”

“We’d all just been through the same thing then,” Erica said. All three of the werewolves turned to Stiles.

She cleared her throat. “I’m staying human.”

“We can talk about sports though,” Boyd said. “I’m joining the football team.”

“Wow, really? Bucking the tradition of doing cross country?” Isaac asked.

“They needed an offensive lineman,”

“I have no idea what that means,” Erica said, dropping her fork.

“Neither do I. I don’t even understand guy’s lacrosse, and I actually go to those games,” Stiles said.

“Is it that different from girl’s lacrosse?” Isaac asked.

“I don’t know. I just shout with everybody else when we score,” she answered with a shrug.

“Same,”

“You don’t even try to understand the rules?” Isaac asked.

Both girls shrugged. Isaac sighed. “So when’s your first game, Boyd?”

“In a week, it’s an away game,”

“With who?” Stiles asked. Boyd answered, and it wasn’t Heather’s school.

“Maybe we can go to a home game,” Isaac suggested. “Make Derek pay for the tickets.”

“And snacks,” Stiles said, smiling and nudging Isaac.

“I’m good with that. I’ll make sure to bring Cora,” Erica said.

“Yeah, she still avoiding lunch?” Isaac asked.

“I think it’s a Hale thing to avoid lots of people,” Boyd answered.

“Would not be surprised. Aside from probably being a huge family of introverts, I can’t imagine how loud this place is to werewolf ears,” Stiles commented, stuffing more food into her mouth.

All three of the people sitting with her sighed. “What?” she asked.

Isaac and Erica pointed to their ears while Boyd gave her a flat look.

“Oh, right, sorry,” she said, holding up her hands. “Hey, Boyd?”

“What?”

She asked him if the football team ever played a game against Heather’s school. He nodded. “In about mid-October. It’s an away game, why?”

“I have a friend that goes there,” Stiles said, pulling out her phone.

“Is that the school Heather goes to?” Isaac asked.

“Heather?” Erica asked.

“Stiles’ old friend,” Isaac answered as Stiles began to type out a text telling Heather about the football game.

“She…?” Erica made a face.

Stiles leaned her head back and squinted. “Bi?”

“No,” Erica said, dropping the face and her shoulders. “Is she human?”

“What? Yeah, sorry, she doesn’t know anything about the supernatural.”

“Why would think I was asking if she was bi?”

Stiles made an ‘I don’t know’ noise. “Maybe you swing that way?”

“If I did, why would I be interested in your friend?” Erica said, crossing her arms and looking away.

Stiles held up her hands, and Isaac sniggered. “Stiles just almost had a thing with her which is why she’s a little preoccupied with sexuality,” he explained.

“Hey,” Stiles told him harshly.

“Sorry,”

“You’re lesbian?” Erica asked, looking her over.

“No, no, I’m,” Stiles took a breath, never having imagined this is how she’d tell the first person after Heather. “I’m bi.”

“Oh,” Erica said, awkwardly returning to her food.

“I almost miss having an empty table,” Boyd said.

“What are you talking about? We’re fantastic company,” Isaac said.

“You’ve spent too much time with Stiles,”

“Yeah, maybe,”

“Hey, it’s not like I made him,”

“We’re all going to be spending a lot more time together,” Erica said. “Including Cora and Derek.”

Stiles and Isaac shared worried glances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while. School started up and things happened. I'll try to be better. I'm so close to the good parts of this story and I'm so excited for it.


	33. People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still alive and working on this. The last chapter should be chapter 47 so 14 chapters to go after this.

“Scott keeps texting me about when we can meet him so he can apologize,” Stiles said, flopping over on Derek’s couch.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Derek said, eyes still on his own phone.

“I do. I want my old friend back,” Stiles said, rereading the text Scott had sent her.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen unless he un-werewolfs himself,” Isaac said, pushing her feet away from him.

“What makes you think that?” she asked, pouting.

“Becoming a werewolf just changes you too much.”

“It’s puberty,” Derek added, looking up from his phone. “Not all the werewolf stuff comes in until then.”

“Wait, are you saying to experienced normal puberty plus coming into werewolf-dom?” Stiles asked.

“That’s horrible,” Isaac said.

“Basically,” Derek said with a shrug. “Help with this text to Cora.”

“What have you said to each other so far?” Stiles asked, sitting up.

Derek held up his hands. “Hey.”

Isaac put his head in his hands. Stiles rolled her eyes. “Just ask her how she is or if she has any fun plans or how’s school.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding and begin to type his text.

“I thought the texting thing would make it easier, but I guess not,” Stiles said.

“She just responded ‘fine’,” Derek announced.

Isaac sighed heavily. “This pack thing is never gonna happen because of your freaking Hale genes.”

“Maybe we should send her Derek’s cooking as a peace offering.”

“Or we could go to Boyd’s football game and if they need to ignore each other they can just say they’re supporting Boyd.”

“That’s not a bad idea. His game’s next Friday, right?”

“Yep.”

Stiles wrinkled her nose. “We still need to figure out what she’s been up to and how the alpha pack found her.”

“Running most likely,” Derek answered. “All of our contacts just disappeared after the fire. No one wanted to chance harboring a Hale kid and risk bringing the Argents to their doorstep. It would’ve been easy for the alpha pack to pick her up, just by mentioning an offer of pack.”

“She was eleven and no one knew she was alive. How could she survive that?” Stiles asked, all different kinds of bad scenarios running through her head.

“There are druids that can hide you. Laura and I considered it,” he admitted. “If she found one, she could have just gone into foster care like a regular human with no one noticing.”

“But she hasn’t said anything that sounds like she did that,” Isaac said. “I still don’t like her, and I’m not sure if she’s told Boyd and Erica what happened. They certainly won’t tell us if she did.”

“We can figure it out eventually, but right now,” Derek said, sending off another text to his sister. “The most important thing is that we all form a strong pack. It’s the only thing that will keep all of us safe, and I’m not losing the last of my family.”

“Peter not included,” Stiles added helpfully.

“He already died once so he doesn’t count,” Derek said.

“If you’re gonna work on Cora, I’m gonna work on Scott,” Stiles decided.

 **I can meet you on the weekend but ur on ur own for Derek** she texted him.

“Have you even told him you’re part of our pack?” Isaac asked.

“Knew I was forgetting something.”

“He’s going to throw a hissy fit about it.”

“It’s not like he was there over the summer to hang with. Shit, I still haven’t told him about that either.”

“How have you been friends for so long?”

“Usually we do everything together so we don’t have to tell each other about it.”

“No wonder you guys suck at communication.”

“Shut up,” Stiles said, crossing her arms.

“We’re all bad at it,” Derek said, glaring at his phone.

Stiles phone buzzed. **Where?** Scott had texted.

 **My house is fine** she texted back.

“So did Cora say yes to Boyd’s football game?” Isaac asked.

“Yes, so we’re all going on Friday.”

“Great, what do we do in the mean time?” Stiles asked.

“I have to contact Jennifer. She wants regular updates now because she found out we rescued Boyd and Erica over a news report. She sounded pretty mad about it,” Derek said.

Isaac snickered.

“It’s not funny.”

“There’s too many people to deal with,” Stiles complained, thinking of Lydia and her dealings with Allison.

“Who’d have thought becoming a werewolf is how you make friends around here,” Isaac said.

“Anyone who thought about wolf social structures,” Derek said.

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's a transitional chapter, but I promise things will happen next chapter.


	34. Apologize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally the chapter I've been leading up to for like 20 chapters. I recommend reading it really quickly.

Stiles sat on her porch, tapping her fingers on a water bottle she’d already emptied and watching the road. She stood when she spotted Scott coming down the street on his bike. “Hey,” he greeted as he came up the stairs to the porch.

“Hey,” she said, setting down the bottle and wiping her hands on her shirt.

Scott looked away and scratched the back of his neck. He cleared his throat and looked back at her.

“So,” she started, running a hand over her head. “We can sit down if you want.”

“Yeah,” he said, and they both slowly sat down and sneaking glances at one another. “I’m here to apologize, and that’s what I’m going to do if you’re ready.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” she said, gesturing towards him before leaning back to watch.

“Uh, I made like a whole speech and stuff, but yeah I messed up,” Scott began taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders. “I hated being a werewolf except when it came to lacrosse. I didn’t like doing what Derek said I needed to do to control it. That put you and Allison and everyone else in danger, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I just wanted to do lacrosse. Kinda been an asshole since.”

Scott shot her a weak smile, and she shrugged and made a motion for him to continue. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I put you in danger and just didn’t pay attention to you. I got so caught up in being good at lacrosse and having Allison. I didn’t come after you when you disappeared. I couldn’t even find the time to hang out with you when weird supernatural things weren’t happening. I was a shitty friend and just not thinking. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, but I think I have a few things to kinda add,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her hands. “Um, I’ve kinda been telling you less and less since you were bitten. It started with me just fact checking with Derek, but, like, now this past summer I spent a lot of time with Derek and Isaac looking for Erica and Boyd because they’d gotten kidnapped by an alpha pack.”

“An alpha pack? As in a pack of alphas?” Scott asked, looking surprised.

“Yeah, it’s so weird. I haven’t actually seen them yet. Anyways, we think they’re interested in Derek. Also, they had Derek’s sister, Cora, so she’s living with Erica now. There’s also this lady, Jennifer, who’s a druid, and she wants to take out Deucalion, who’s the alpha of alphas. So basically we’re in this huge mess. Also, I kinda joined Derek’s pack.”

“What? That was like twelve things. And kinda?” Scott asked, throwing a hand out. “You can’t kinda join a pack.”

“Well, I did,” Stiles said, throwing up her hands. “You weren’t there. You didn’t know what was happening. I made my choice.”

“You’re gonna let him bite you, too?”

“No, it’s not going to happen,” she said, shaking her head. “I just wanted to tell you what’s been happening. Sorry for not telling you shit, but this is why.”

Scott grunted in frustration. He rubbed his forehead, messing up his bangs. “Fine, I get it. I got myself cut out. I’m sorry.”

“I’m willing to accept your apology, but it can’t be like it was before. I’ll tell you stuff, but you gotta listen,” she said then pointed a finger at his nose. “And no going behind people’s backs.”

“I will,” he promised, nodding. “I’ll do everything can. I promise to be better.”

“Good, then I accept your apology,” she said, smiling weakly but able to breathe easier.

Scott tilted his head. “Are we still friends, with you being Derek’s pack?”

“Me being part of Derek’s pack’s got nothing to do with it.”

He frowned. “And?”

She shrugged. “We’ve changed, and we’ve been kinda shit since you got bit.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Scott said earnestly. “Maybe it’ll be different, but I still want to be friends.”

“I do, too.”

“We can start over,” Scott said, holding out his hand. “I’m Scott, recently bitten werewolf.”

“Relatively recent,” Stiles added, and Scott rolled his eyes. Stiles shook his hand. “Nice to meet you Scott, I’m Stiles, recent human addition to the local alpha’s pack.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” he said then grinned. “You interested in getting any curly fries?”

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, all done, now there's just like 5 other character arcs I need to finish.


	35. Game

“I got tickets,” Stiles announced loudly, holding them up in the air.

“Help,” Isaac whispered to her, pointing in the direction of Derek. He stood next right next to Cora, but was looking off in the opposite direction. Cora looked straight forward and ignored Derek. Erica stood next to them, but had her phone out though the only people she would even text with all stood with her, except for Boyd who wouldn’t even have his phone on him at this point.

“Anybody want to get food once we get in?” Stiles asked, gesturing with both hands towards the entrance.

Isaac smacked his palm against his forehead. Cora gave her an unimpressed look.

“Fine, whatever, I’m going in,” Stiles announced, determinedly walking towards the entrance to the field.

“Let’s get good seats,” Erica said, following her.

Stiles handed over the tickets and they walked onto the track towards the bleachers. “I think I know why I’ve never been to any of these before,” Stiles said with a nod.

“Why’s that?” Isaac asked.

“There’s so many people I don’t like,” she said, throwing up her hands. “It’s not worth coming without knowing someone on the team.”

“That must be why you’re in a pack with Derek,” Isaac said, looking to the side to see Derek glaring at him. Isaac grinned.

“You’re wrong,” Cora said as they headed into the bleachers. “Hales just don’t do large groups of people in general. The individuals don’t matter.”

Isaac squinted at her. “Is that a joke?”

“Hale family humor,” Stiles said, spreading out her hands like she was showcasing a title. “With extra deadpan.”

“Are you intending to trademark that?” Derek asked.

“Maybe, why? Do you want part of the royalties?”

“It could just be pack income,” Erica suggested.

“I thought that would be what renting the rest of the apartments would be,” Isaac said.

“I think the trademark would require more paperwork,” Derek said.

Stiles shuffled down one of the middle rows as close to the center as she could get without running into other people. Isaac sat down next to her with Derek on his other side. Erica managed to force Cora to sit next to Derek for the low price of an exaggerated eye roll.

“When’s this supposed to start exactly?” Stiles asked.

“I think it works like movies. It starts everal minutes after it says it’s going to start,” Isaac answered with a shrug.

“This is gonna be fun though, right?” she asked, glancing over to Derek and Cora.

“Absolutely,” Derek snorted.

“You’re the one that set this up,” Cora said.

“I’d say this actually one of the better decisions you’ve made, Derek,” Erica said. “It’s only awkward rather than life threatening.”

“Thanks,” Derek said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s not lifet hreatening yet, anyways,” Stiles added. “Remember that lacrosse game.”

“You’ve jinxed it now,” Isaac said, dropping his head.

“You know what? I’m here to support Boyd. So, I’m just gonna do that,” Cora said, turning to face the field.

Derek turned to Isaac and Stiles. Stiles held up her hands, and Isaac stared down at his feet. Cora held true to her word and didn’t talk to Derek for the rest of the game. Erica cheered loudest for Boyd, but not always at the right times. Stiles had to ask whether every move the team made was a good one or not. Isaac tried to answer accurately while Derek messed up his explanations with ridiculous false add ins.

Beacon Hills lost by a matter of a single touch down. “This sucked,” Cora said as Erica led the way back out of the seats again.

“Pretty accurate,” Stiles said nodding.

“Stiles.”

They all turned to see Scott a few rows down from them and with a few of his lacrosse buddies. “I didn’t know you were coming,” he said, waiting for them as they came down.

“Yeah, well,” she said, gesturing to Derek and Isaac.

“Oh, right,” he said, shuffling his feet. “Hey, Derek.”

“Not interested, McCall,” Derek said, continuing on his path and knocking his shoulder against Scott. Scott took a step back, holding up his hands and looking over to Stiles. Stiles shrugged, and Isaac squeezed past Scott.

“That’s McCall?” Stiles heard Cora asked as the rest of the group continued on.

“Sorry, but I kinda gotta go. Derek’s my ride,” Stiles told him.

“Okay,” he said, walking with her. “You’ll text me sometime?”

“Yeah, for sure,” she said, nodding as she picked up her pace to try and catch up with the others. “See ya.”

She didn’t look back as she caught up to Isaac.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha I'm still mean to Scott. Anyways, hopefully I'll stay on track to update next week.


	36. Growing Pains

Stiles walked to her jeep after field hockey practice, but didn’t see Isaac. She frowned and waited for him, pulling out her phone. Scott had left her a message, asking to hang out. Isaac didn’t show within five minutes so Stiles texted Scott to tell him she was heading over to his house.

“You up for video games?” he asked when she got to his house.

“Not the most exciting thing we’ve ever done, but sure,” she said, grinning as she came inside.

The following day, she spotted Isaac in the hall. She sped up to try and ask him where he’d gone after practice. Then, she noticed Boyd was talking with him. She stopped and stared at them for a moment before continuing on to her class.

“Where were you yesterday?” Stiles asked when she sat down next to Isaac at lunch.

“Practice ended a little early and Boyd invited me over.”

“Oh, what did you do?”

“Basketball,” Boyd answered.

“Even though I suck at it,” Isaac added, and Boyd chuckled.

“I reffed and sent Cora pics,” Erica said, shrugging.

“Basketball was too strenuous for her,” Isaac said, nudging Stiles.

“Not true,” Erica said, rolling her eyes. “Being bitten has done a lot for me, but it has not improved my aim when it comes to trying to throw things.”

“At least I know it’s better to stay out of your short range,” Stiles said.

“No need to be so grumpy, Stiles,” Isaac said as he started in on his food.

“What’d you think of the English assignment?” Boyd asked.

“What assignment?” Stiles asked, panicking and starting to get up out of her seat.

“Relax, we’re in a different class from you,” Isaac said, tugging Stiles back into her seat.

“Oh,” she responded, forcing herself to take a deep breath. She did her best to ignore Erica’s smirk. She felt her phone buzz as Isaac and Boyd started to complain about a book they have to read for their class. She pulled out her phone to see Lydia had texted her.

**Update: Allison is less pissed off**

Stiles responded, turning away as the werewolves continued to talk. **Thats good right?**

**Yeah but you should probably still stay away from her**

**Then why mention it at all?** Stiles gave her phone the look she meant to give Lydia.

**She hasnt told me everything but she wants to help**

**How?** Stiles asked frowning. She looked around the cafeteria to try and find Lydia and Allison. She didn’t see either of them and guessed that they were at Mrs. Walker’s room.

 **She told me the thing you gave me about a kanima was part of a bestiary. She’s going to help me find out what I am**.

Stiles swallowed. Despite having already heard Lydia claim not to be human, the knowledge of one less human around her made a chill go down her spine.

 **Good** Stiles texted her. **Do you want me to ask Derek if he might have any more info?**

 **Not yet only once we’ve gone through the bestiary**.

Stiles sighed and tucked her phone away. She focused in on the conversation going on around her, but she didn’t know what they were talking about. She ate half her lunch then got up. “Sorry, I got to go do a thing.”

“Bye,” Erica said, giving her a half wave.

Boyd nodded to her.

“Alright,” Isaac said, frowning at her as she began to walk away.

Stiles wandered the school, dodging inattentive security guards, rather than do anything productive. She didn’t look for Isaac after practice, and she drove home.

The following day, Stiles walked into the cafeteria to see Cora sitting beside Erica and Boyd beside Isaac. She stared at the four of them sitting and talking together for a moment. Then she turned and spotted Scott. “Scooch,” she said in warning before sitting down beside him.

“Hey,” he said, grinning at her. “You joined us.”

“Yup,” she said, nodding, but also casting a wary glance at the boys seated around them. She recognized most of them from the lacrosse team.

“How’s today been so far?” he asked, not noticing the weird looks several of his teammates gave her.

“It’s sucked,” she told him before diving right into her food to leave lunch early again.

The school day ended without easing up on the way it soured Stiles’ mood. Isaac found her after practice. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, why would you think that?” she asked, gesturing for him to take the passenger seat.

“You left lunch early yesterday and you didn’t sit with us today.”

“I wanted to talk to Scott,” she said with a shrug before starting up the car.

“But you didn’t sit with him for long either.”

“There’s nothing wrong, Isaac.”

“There must be something. Do you not like us anymore?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing.”

He gave her a puppy face the entire ride to Derek’s. “Come on,” he pleaded as they got out of the car.

“Just too human sometimes,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“What does that mean?” he asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re not supposed to get it.”

“Stiles, we were doing so well together,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they made their way up to the apartment.

“You’re the one who went off with Boyd,” she retorted.

He placed a hand against his chest. “Are you mad that I hung out with Boyd instead of you?”

“No.”

“We did all agree to become friends and make a strong pack, remember?”

“I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. He opened the door into the apartment. Derek stood in the center of the apartment, and he fixed them with a grave look. Isaac dropped his arm from Stiles’ shoulders.

“What is it?” Isaac asked.

Derek looked between the two of them. “The alpha pack left their mark a couple blocks from here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could probably stand for a little more smoothing but oh well


	37. Teaser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm back from break so I can get writing again.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Stiles asked in a loud whisper.

“Yes,” Derek said, glaring at her.

“Yeah, definitely where I’d expect to find a druid,” Isaac said.

“Then again, it’s not like anybody would expect werewolves to be living on the top floor of their apartment building,” Stiles said with a shrug.

Derek and Isaac looked at her. She held up her hands. “I’m just saying. Maybe we should give a little slack to cookie cutter exteriors.”

“Whatever,” Derek said, getting out of the Camaro.

Isaac climbed out, and Stiles squeezed her way out of the back. “I still think you should take a spin back there, Isaac.”

“I will as soon as you grow taller than me.”

Stiles grumbled as they followed Derek up onto the porch of the duplex Jennifer had invited them to meet at. It was a left over from before the recession, and most certainly not neutral ground. Derek rang the doorbell.

“Still there is a possibility of a booby trap,” Stiles said, stroking her chin. “What if it’s just a magical façade and actually leads to a trap?”

“That’s exactly what it is,” Isaac said, rolling his eyes. “She comes to us to not kill innocent people to kill a mutual enemy just to go head and kill us instead.”

“It’s a test to see how much we trust her,” Derek sighed. “Haven’t you figured out how these things work by now?”

“I don’t think I should be docked points for being what in this town is reasonably paranoid,” Stiles said, placing a hand on her chest.

“Everyone involved is paranoid,” he responded.

The door swung open, and Derek flashed Jennifer a bright smile. “Hello, Jennifer, it was nice of you to respond so promptly and invite us over to meet.”

“Not at all, Derek,” she said, her smile a little too wide. “Please, come in. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to eat or drink.”

“Thank you,” he said, giving her a polite nod as he entered her house. Jennifer walked with him, leaving Stiles and Isaac to come in on their own.

“Clearly we ain’t shit,” Stiles scoffed as she kicked the door closed behind them.

“Actually, I’m the highest ranking beta. You’re just human,” Isaac said, grinning.

“That makes me feel loads better, thanks, Isaac,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He snickered and led the way into the living room. Jennifer had taken the arm chair, and Derek the edge of the couch across from her, separated only by a coffee table. Isaac sat next to Derek, and Stiles took the other end.

“You said they’d left a mark near your apartment?” Jennifer asked, clasping her hands together.

Derek nodded.

“Was it put on anything of significance or anything that might have a metaphorical meaning?”

“It was on the window of an empty building.”

“Not very illuminating,” she said, frowning. “I don’t know the meaning behind everything they do. Obviously, they know where you live, but if they marked a building near it they’re not likely to be based around there either. They mark empty buildings often because they’re less likely to get cleaned.”

“So just another warning, remind us that they’re there?” he asked.

“Yes, or perhaps to signal there will be another test soon,” she gave Derek a sharp look. “How have you progressed with rebuilding your pack? Is it strong enough to attack?”

He shook his head. “We’re working on making amends with old pack members, but no one else has officially joined.”

She shook her head, pressing her lips together. “I was hoping you would have made more progress. This was meant to alert them to my presence as they’re likely watching you. However, this might have been too soon. They’ll see it as you being strong enough for a proper druid and preparing to attack them.”

“So what do we do then if they do attack?” Stiles asked, leaning forward.

“Band together, find strength in fighting a common enemy,” she shrugged. “We still should have some time, even if this is too soon. They’ll do at least one more test before full on attacking. It’ll likely be intimidation now that you’ve come here.”

“Great,” Isaac said with a heavy sigh. “More creepy older people.”

“What is it with creepy older people and the supernatural?” Stiles asked.

“What is it with all the teenagers?” Jennifer said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, this started with creepy older people. We didn’t ask for it to happen,” she retorted, holding up her hands.

“Let’s go,” Derek said, standing and cutting off the budding argument. “Thank you for having us over, Jennifer.”

Isaac followed him, and Stiles huffed before getting up and following after them. Jennifer walked behind them to the door. Stiles almost made it onto the porch before pausing and turning back to Jennifer. “Hey, I’ve got a brain teaser for you.”

“Yes?” Jennifer asked, barely even looking down to Stiles.

“If someone is bitten by an alpha werewolf, but doesn’t become a werewolf or any shape shifter or die, what are they?”

Jennifer looked her right in the eyes. “I think I’d have to meet this person. The sooner, the better.”

“Right, I will definitely let you know about that,” Stiles said, nodding and quickly retreating.

“Was that,” Isaac began, following her down off the porch as Derek said goodbye one last time. “About Lydia?”

“Yeah, and maybe we’ll actually get an answer this time,” Stiles said, casting a last look to Jennifer before she shut the door.

“Do you think it would help?”

“Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end now.


	38. They're Not Hallucinations

“Lydia,” Stiles yelled, waving her arm above her head as she ran across campus towards her.

“What?” Lydia asked, unimpressed as Stiles nearly bowled over a freshman who hadn’t moved quite fast enough.

“Sorry,” Stiles told him as she jogged the rest of the way to Lydia. “I gotta tell you something. It might be able to help answer your questions.”

“Questions?” Lydia asked, staring at her for a moment before nodding. “You mean about me.”

“Yeah, have I told you about Jennifer? Anyways, Derek met her, and she might know stuff we don’t.”

“What do you know about Jennifer?” Lydia said, gesturing for Stiles to walk with her.

“She still kinda gives me the creeps, but I think it’s because she’s dangerous but not necessarily out to get us. I mean, she is out to deal with the alpha pack.”

“Why does she know more than we do? Another bestiary?”

Stiles leaned in closer to her. “No she’s a druid. She’s like an advisor for werewolf packs and supposedly has some type of magic. She just doesn’t shape shift or anything.”

“What exactly are her powers though?”

“No idea, but that’s not too important for this though, right? We just need her knowledge. She’s been pretty up front about the alpha pack so she should be okay in figuring out what you are.”

“Worth a shot,” Lydia said, straightening. “I’ll go, but Allison comes with and armed.”

“What?” Stiles said, drawing back. “Armed? Isn’t she still mad at me? I don’t want to be in her sights.”

“She’s not gonna hurt you, Stiles. I don’t think she’s mad at you anymore. It’ll just be to help balance things out. I mean, you just said you thought Jennifer was dangerous,” Lydia said and gave her a flat look. “You, she’s met before, but we don’t know how she’ll react to us. It’s just for precaution.”

“Great, we’ll go in looking like we want to start a fight.”

She frowned. “I think it’s better to be prepared than to have a fight anyways and not have Allison with us. Or are you planning on dragging Derek along?”

She sighed, dropping her shoulders. “I haven’t really explained the whole thing to him yet.”

She closed her eyes for a moment and ran her hand over her forehead. “It’s a miracle I know anything, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Stiles said weakly and scratching her head. “I guess Allison can come. Just tell her not to bring anything too big and obvious.”

“I can do that. Let me know when you set up the meeting,” Lydia said, and walked away towards her own car.

* * *

 

It took Stiles longer than she would like to admit to get Jennifer’s number out of Derek and then set up a time to meet Jennifer with Lydia and Allison. Lydia drove them to Jennifer’s with Stiles in the passenger seat to give directions. Every so often, Stiles couldn’t help looking back just to check that Allison had stayed in the backseat and hadn’t aimed the crossbow in her back pack at her. Allison never had it out whenever Stiles checked.

“Here,” Stiles said, pointing up at the duplex.

“Alright,” Lydia said, pulling in more smoothly than Stiles had ever parked.

“Let’s go,” Allison said, getting out of the car first.

Stiles sighed and got out after her. She led the way up to Jennifer’s door and rang the doorbell. Jennifer opened the door with a smile that made Stiles want to cringe. “Hello,” she said brightly. “I’m Jennifer, please, come in.”

She turned back into her house, and Allison nudged Stiles in the back. “Well go,” Allison said, shooing her into the house.

“I’m going,” Stiles said, shooting her a look as she stepped over the threshold.

“Seems a little too nice for a druid,” Lydia commented.

“I know right?” Stiles said, her tone falling flat.

“So, it was Lydia who was bitten by an alpha?” Jennifer said when they reached the living room. She turned back towards them, standing tall with her hands clasped again.

“Yes,” Lydia said, moving to stand in front.

“How long ago?”

“A few months.”

“And you haven’t shifted at all since then? No memory loss?”

“I lost some time after the initial bite, but none since then. I haven’t shifted at all.”

“No shifting,” Jennifer murmured, tapping her chin. “You haven’t bled black or come into contact with mountain ash.”

“Not at all.”

“What about hallucinations?”

Stiles chanced a glance over to Allison and found Allison looking back at her. They both looked towards Lydia. Lydia swallowed and took a deep breath. “For a while, I saw a boy about my age. I think he was a younger Peter Hale. He had been dead at the time. He did something to me, could put me in a haze or trance or something and have me do things. Like, I remember things happening, but it’s all blurry. I don’t know what all I did, but they stopped when he came back.”

“Peter Hale? Dead at the time?” Jennifer asked. “And then brought back? How exactly did this all happen? We haven’t heard anything about him since he fell into a coma after the fire.”

“He killed Laura Hale and became an alpha,” Stiles explained, taking a step forward. “Derek killed him, and then he somehow made Lydia bring him back by knocking Derek out and dragging him out to his body. And who’s we?”

“Hold on,” Jennifer said, holding up her hand. “Peter was dead, and you had been talking to him? Then you brought him back with Derek? Derek’s his closest living relative isn’t he?”

“Aside from Cora,” Stiles answered.

Lydia shot Stiles a look then turned to Jennifer. “Yes, I talked with Peter.”

“Werewolves can be brought back from the dead within a certain time frame and with the blood of their closest living relative, but only if a banshee presided over it.”

“You’re saying I’m a banshee?” Lydia said, staring at her with an open mouth.

“Yes, those weren’t hallucinations; you really were speaking to Peter Hale while he was dead. Your powers must have awoken during those days that you can’t remember. Banshees are also known to go into a trance to perform more powerful work such as raising a werewolf. You didn’t know you had those powers or what was happening, but Peter knew,” Jennifer shook her head. “He’s always been a step ahead. A wonderful Hale family trait.”

“Hale family trait?” Stiles asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, you don’t become the longest line of werewolves without the ability to plan ahead,” Jennifer said. “Don’t worry; your alpha is growing into it.”

“He’s not our alpha,” Allison said, rolling her eyes and shifting on her feet.

“Of course, he’s not yours,” Jennifer said, looking at Stiles. “But he is hers. How have you been feeling since you joined the pack?”

Stiles leaned away from her. “Fine, was I supposed to come down with something?”

“No, just curious,” she said with a shrug. “I can show you out if you don’t have any more questions.”

“I’m good,” Lydia said, nodding.

“Alright, thank you for stopping by,” Jennifer said, leading the way back to the entrance.

Stiles filed out last.

“Stiles,” Jennifer said, and they all turned back. “It’ll be interesting to be in the pack with you. Have a nice day, you three.”

She waved then closed the door. Stiles turned to look to Lydia and Allison. “What was that?”

“No idea, but I don’t need to worry about it. I have to start researching banshees,” Lydia said, turning back to the car. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a great explanation, but it's better than anything the show's given us so far as I've seen.   
> I'm still trying to keep Jennifer 'teacher' like, and I think it's coming out a little weird.


	39. Winning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Heather might be evolving.

**Im so excited!!!**

Stiles smiled at Heather’s text. She texted back, **we’ll meet you at the entrance**.

“Let’s go,” Stiles said, motioning for everyone to follow her.

“We’re coming,” Derek said, rolling his eyes with Isaac at his heels and Erica and Cora walking together behind him.

“Stiles!”

She looked up to see Heather waving her over. “Hey,” she shouted back.

Heather wrapped her arms around her as soon as she was within reach. “It’s good to see you again,” she said, releasing Stiles and giving her a once over.

“Same, where are we sitting?”

“We’re going to be sitting in the home stands. Trust me, they’re much better than sitting in the away ones,” she said, leading the way. “Come on.”

Stiles looked back, motioning for all the werewolves to follow her. Heather led them about halfway up the home stands in the middle section then filed down the row.

“Derek, right?” Heather asked, leaning around Stiles.

“Yeah,” Derek said, looking Heather over. Stiles rolled her eyes and shoved him away to little effect.

“Let me introduce everyone,” Stiles said, gesturing to herself. “That’s Derek, Isaac, Erica, and Cora. Cora is in fact related to Derek.”

“I couldn’t tell at all,” Heather said, smiling then giving a wave to the girls. Erica smiled back, and Cora gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

“I see why they’re friends,” Isaac said.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Isaac?” Stiles asked.

“Nothing.”

“They’re coming out,” Erica said, sitting up straight. She screamed the loudest when Boyd came onto the field.

Stiles leaned over towards Heather. “Do you actually understand football?”

“No?”

“Okay good cause I still don’t.”

“How many games have you been to?”

“This would be the second.”

“You’re fine then,” Heather assured her. She pressed her shoulder against Stiles’. “How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good,” Stiles nodded and mentally added ‘aside from the alpha pack’. “I could be better if I didn’t have to actually get up for school in the morning, but what can you do.”

“Sleep through math class,” Heather said.

“Always a good option,” she said, laughing.

Heather leaned in closer. “So what’s the deal with you hanging out with these cuties? I know puberty has been nice to Scott, but look at these people.”

“I know right?” Stiles said with a sigh, glancing down the row at the werewolves. “It’s a little overwhelming sometimes.”

Derek gave Stiles a look, and she did her best to ignore it and scratched her head to hide her face.

“I think he heard you,” Heather whispered to her with definite undertone of teasing.

“Oh really, you think?”

“Hey man, if he’s interested.”

“I was not suggesting anything. I was just saying they’re good looking,” Stiles said. She glanced at Derek and still saw him giving her a look. “We should stop talking.”

“Whatever you say,” Heather said, turning back to the game, but not without giving Derek a last once over.

Half time came, and the girls sent the boys to get snacks.

“Hey,” Stiles shouted at them as they headed down the bleachers. “See if they’ll give me extra cheese on my nachos.”

Isaac gave her a thumbs up and followed Derek down.

Stiles shivered, glancing towards the horizon to see the sun had almost gone down. “I regret not wearing more.”

“Really?” Heather asked. “Usually you’re fine with just flannel.”

“Not tonight, I guess,” she said, rubbing her arms.

“Well, it’s not like your friends are using their jackets,” she said, looking right at the leather jackets Isaac and Derek had left behind.

“I mean, I could borrow it and return it later,” Stiles said.

Heather smiled, and Stiles reached out, grabbed, and quickly pulled on Derek’s jacket. She sighed at the warmth it provided even if it was several sizes too large for her. “I lied, I’m not returning this,” she said, wrapping it around herself more tightly.

Heather laughed. “It’s going to a good cause.”

“Hell yeah it is.”

Derek came back with her nachos and his own bag of popcorn and frowned. “Is that my jacket?”

“Maybe,” Stiles said, looking up at him and trying for an innocent look.

Derek sighed and sat down next to her. “Just don’t get nachos on the sleeves.”

“I won’t. I swear,” she said as she rolled up the sleeves.

“Uh huh,” he said, watching as she began eating.

“I swear.”

“Don’t talk while you’re chewing.”

“Sorry,” she said, rolling her eyes and covering her hand with her mouth. He shook his head and turned back to the game. Heather giggled and tried to play it off as a cough when Stiles glared at her.

Beacon Hills won the game, and Stiles got to her feet and screamed as loudly as she could, “Hell yeah.”

She turned to Heather. “Sorry.”

Then she went back to screaming. “Yeah, go Boyd.”

“Alright, calm down before you blow somebody’s ears out,” Derek said, placing a hand over his own ear.

“We shall prevail,” Heather said, striking a pose with a foot on the bleacher seat. “Next time.”

“Sure,” Stiles said.

“You only won by like three points,” she said, pointing to the score board.

“Still won.”

“Whatever, let’s go,” she said, rolling her eyes and turning Stiles towards the exit.

Stiles cackled as she followed Derek out of the bleachers. Cora gave her a look once they were back on the asphalt.

“You’ve got a leather jacket now, too?” she asked.

“Yes,” Stiles answered, wrapping it tighter around herself as Derek gave her a flat look.

“Does that mean I have to get one now? Everyone has one, even Boyd.”

“Wait, your whole group wears leather jackets?” Heather asked.

“Yes,” Erica said, holding her jacket out and looking at it. “I don’t remember how this happened.”

“Oh, no,” Isaac said, eyes wide. “I know what happened.”

“What?” Derek asked, glaring at him and crossing his arms.

“Derek’s shitty fashion sense spread to the rest of us,” he answered, covering his mouth with a hand.

“Yeah, whatever scarf boy,” he responded, flipping Isaac’s scarf back over his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said, smoothing it back down to its original position.

Cora laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely going to have to get a leather jacket now. I must continue the line.”

Heather laughed as well. “It’s a legacy now.”

“Exactly,” Stiles said.

“Then maybe you’ll get your own instead of taking mine,” Derek said, tugging on the collar of his leather jacket still wrapped around her.

“You want it back now?” she asked.

He sighed. “Give it back when you’ve got your own jacket on.”

“Will do,” she said, giving him a mock salute.

“Hey, I gotta catch my ride,” Heather said, tapping Stiles shoulder. “I’ll text you later?”

“Yeah,” she responded, giving her a goodbye hug.

“I think I like her,” Erica said, watching as Heather waved at them while walking away.

Stiles grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting so close to the end. I'm excited to finish.


	40. Cousins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter.

Stiles sighed as the bell for lunch rang.

“Yay math,” Isaac said, sounding like his soul had been sucked out of him.

“At least you don’t have it first period,” she said, shooting him a look as she got up.

“I’m genuinely sorry for you.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Hey, guys,” Cora said, coming up pretty much at Isaac’s elbow.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“It’s been a few weeks and we’ve hung out a bit, maybe mellowed out a bit,” she started.

“Are you asking us for favors now?” Stiles asked, going around Isaac to walk backwards in front of her. “Is there another body we need to bury?”

“Stiles,” Isaac hissed, pulling her back to his other side. “No talking about bodies in school.”

“My bad.”

“Anyways,” Cora said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I just wanted to get your guys’ opinion.”

“On what? How best to get mountain ash out from between the floorboards?” Stiles asked. “Even I don’t know how to do that.”

“No, about Derek, if he’d be okay with me moving in and trying again. I was kinda shitty to him, but it was a lot to take in at the time, and I think I could try living with you again.”

“Yeah, you were kinda shitty.”

“Stiles,” Isaac said, elbowing her.

“What? She said it first,” she complained, rubbing her arm.

Isaac rolled his eyes and turned back to Cora. “I don’t know, maybe. Can’t hurt to ask.”

“Oh it can definitely hurt to ask,” Stiles said, receiving glares from both werewolves. “Anyways, I have class. I will catch you later, Isaac.”

After practice that day, Stiles found Isaac leaning against her jeep. “You didn’t have to be so mean to her,” he told her.

“Yeah, maybe, but she still gives me the creeps sometimes. We still don’t know where she’s been,” she said, climbing into her car.

“Can’t have been too remote if she’s doing this well in school.”

“I know, she’s taking it better than Derek takes the general public,” she said, making a face. “And the general public has fewer teenagers.”

“More hunters and cops though.”

“Oh, right,” she said, grimacing.

“Let’s go and just get the news to Derek as painlessly as possible.”

“You got it,” she said, pulling out of her parking spot and heading to the apartment.

Isaac lead the way in, but Stiles announced, “Derek, we’ve got news.”

He looked up at them from his book. He’d already filled the bookshelf three quarters of the way full. “You’re giving me back my jacket?” he asked.

“No,” she said, offering him a smile. She’d worn it about five times since the game. She probably would have worn it to school today if it hadn’t gotten warmer.

“Of course not.”

“Actually, it’s about Cora,” Isaac said. “She wants to try living with us again.”

Derek stared at him, and after several moments, Stiles took a step back. “Should I go?”

“No, you should stay. You’re part of the pack. What affects us will affect you. This is a big deal,” he said, looking between the two teenagers.

“We have been getting along better,” Isaac said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but she didn’t exactly leave you in the greatest of states when she left. You texted me panicked, remember?” Stiles pointed out.

“We got in a little over our heads the first time we let her stay. I was perhaps,” Derek tilted his head. “A little too eager to get any part of my family back. We should reassess how we feel about her and her living with us then make a decision.”

“Maybe now’s the time we ask her where she was all this time,” she said, crossing her arms.

Derek nodded. “We can do that, too.”

* * *

 

“Hey,” Isaac said, tapping Cora just before leaving from lunch. “Hang around after school. We’ll take you to talk to Derek about living arrangements.”

Cora looked at Stiles before giving Isaac a nod. “Alright, I’ll see you then.”

After school, Stiles found two werewolves hanging around her jeep. “Uh, we’re actually going to have to walk so,” she said, gesturing towards the side walk.

“Fine,” Cora said pushing off the car.

“How funny is it that we’re going to be meeting all together right in the same coffee shop we met Jennifer?” Isaac asked, leading the way.

“Jennifer’s the druid lady with a vendetta right?” Cora asked, turning to Stiles.

“Yeah,” she responded with a shrug. “Have you met her yet?”

“No.”

“Well she seems to know quite a bit, and we can only hope that means good things.”

“Right now we just gotta talk with Derek,” Isaac said.

He held the door open for them when they reached the coffee shop. “Hey,” Stiles greeted, spotting Derek at a table by the wall.

“So I guess I’m still not getting my jacket back,” he said, looking at her with his jacket on.

“Nah,” she said, shaking her head and sitting down beside him.

“I’m gonna get a muffin,” Isaac said, heading towards the counter.

“Do you want anything?” Derek asked Cora.

She shook her head and sat across from Derek. “So I’m getting interviewed in order to move back in?”

Derek shrugged.

“They’ve got banana bread muffins,” Isaac announced to them before taking a large bite out of one and sitting down with them.

“Are they any good?” Stiles asked.

He shrugged.

“Anyways,” Derek said, looking to Cora. “We just wanted to have one pressing question answered before we make a final decision.”

“Let me guess,” she said, crossing her arms and leaning back. “It’s about where I was before I got kidnapped by the alphas.”

“Bingo,” Stiles said, and shrunk down when she received glares from all three werewolves. “Sorry.”

“I was at our cousins,” she answered, looking right at Derek. “Mom always said to run to them if something really bad happened to the pack. It took me too long to get there.”

“Too long?” Isaac asked, looking between the Hale siblings.

“Everyone knew me and Laura had survived the fire,” Derek answered, clenching his jaw.

Cora leaned forward, hands on the table. “I begged them to get you. I screamed at them for days, demanded that they rescue you, too. When I thought I might be convincing them, you disappeared. We all thought the hunters had finished the job. When I heard that there was someone who could transform into a wolf, I had to look.”

“Funny,” Derek said, shaking his head and drawing in an uneven breath. “All of our cousins told us it was too risky to take us in if they’d been able to kill Talia. We had to leave or else really be finished off.”

“I tried. I was eleven, and they wouldn’t listen to me,” she said, looking the closest to crying since learning what had happened to Laura.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, trying to drink his coffee but his hand shook too much.

Stiles looked over to Isaac. He glanced at Derek then shrugged, looking back at her with wide eyes. She looked down and scratched her forehead. “Cora, it’ll probably be a few more days before you get an answer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting really excited to finish this fic.


	41. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is the wrong time of year for this, but whatever.

“Guess what?” Stiles asked when she caught up to Isaac after school.

“What?”

“My dad said you and Derek can come over to be on candy duty with us for Halloween.”

“That’s cool, I guess,” he said then squinted at her. “How do you know we won’t eat all the candy ourselves?”

“Dad will know. He’d probably arrest us for disappointing a kid by not having any candy for them,” she said with a serious nod.

Isaac laughed. “Sure, do we need costumes for this?”

“Can’t you just turn up as yourselves?”

He gave her a look. “I don’t know if you’re saying that ‘cause we’re werewolves or if you think we’re ugly.”

She laughed that time. “No, you don’t need costumes. You just need to sit out on the porch.”

“Oh is that all?”

“We’re not going to be scaring any kids. Also, there is a slight catch,” she said, holding up her thumb and index while they were about an inch apart.

“Which is?”

“Scott will be over for a little while, at least until his mom gets off her shift so they can hand out candy together.”

“Derek is going to love that,” Isaac said with a heavy sigh.

* * *

 

“How did I get talked into this?” Derek asked, looking at the bowl of candy in his hand like it had insulted his eyebrows.

“Uh, because we wouldn’t let you be a loner on a holiday,” Isaac said, taking a seat on the bench on the Stilinski porch and setting his own bowl of candy on his lap.

Derek sighed.

“Hey, even Cora went to Erica’s to celebrate, and by celebrate I mean binge eat candy,” Stiles said, sitting down beside Isaac.

“No eating the candy until trick or treaters stop coming,” her dad said. “But I’m glad you guys could come out and help.”

“You’ve said that already,” Stiles said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s not like it hurts anybody to say it again,” he said, scoffing in response to her eye roll before turning to Derek. “I forgot to ask earlier, how’s your sister doing?”

“She’s moved back in with me and Isaac. It’s going better than last time,” he said with a shrug.

“Hey,” Scott said as he joined them on the porch with his own bowl of candy. He shot Derek a hopeful smile, but Derek gave him a bland look until he backed down and sat down beside Stiles. The sheriff gave Stiles a look, gesturing between Derek and Scott, and Stiles shrugged.

Derek and the sheriff took the chairs on the porch across from the bench Isaac, Stiles, and Scott sat on. The first kids showed up within a matter of minutes. Stiles’ dad gave each one a piece of candy.

“Could we toss it to them?” Isaac asked, holding up a candy bar. “Like yell go long and make them work for all this sugar.”

“Why? They already go all over the neighborhood to get the candy,” Derek said.

“I feel like this would be more fun if we actually did something,” he said with a shrug.

“Well, Stiles dressed up as Derek,” Scott said with a shrug.

Derek froze as the sheriff looked over his daughter. “Dressed up as Derek?”

“Smooth,” Stiles hissed as she elbowed Scott in the side. He gave her a puppy dog look, but she turned to her father. “Derek let me borrow his jacket when I forgot mine. I kinda haven’t given it back.”

Isaac did his best to muffle his chuckling with a hand clapped over his mouth.

“It’s fine,” Derek said, moving the bowl of candy to be between him and the sheriff.

The sheriff frowned, looking between them. “You’re not…”

“What? Dad, no, I just stole his jacket,” Stiles said, holding up her hands and nearly upending her bowl of candy when she moved them.

He frowned at her.

“He got another one so it’s all okay,” she said, pointing to Derek’s new jacket.

Isaac stopped trying to muffle his laughter. Stiles punched him while Derek glared. “I’m sorry,” Isaac said, trying to scoot away from her when there was nowhere to scoot to.

“At least now I know where that jacket came from,” the sheriff said, sighing.

Stiles felt saved when another group of kids came up to their porch, and she leapt up to hand them all candy.

Scott left after an hour, pouring all his leftover candy into Stiles’ bowl. He gave her a half hug good bye and a smile and a wave to everyone else. The rest of the trick or treating went well, except for a short interlude when the sheriff went inside to get drinks so Isaac decided to chuck a candy bar at Derek’s head. Derek glared at Isaac so Stiles tried it out for herself and managed to hit Derek. She jumped up in excitement, spilling half her candy, and Derek had pegged her in the face with a Reese’s. Isaac and Stiles managed to pelt Derek with a few more handfuls of candy before the sheriff came back outside.

“Pick it up,” the sheriff said, gesturing to the candy all over the floor.

“Yes, sir,” Stiles said, and Isaac had given him a salute. Derek sighed, but did as asked.

“I think that’s it for tonight,” the sheriff said once it had gone dark and no kids had shown up for a good ten minutes.

“We get to eat the rest of it?” Isaac asked, holding up his bowl.

“Yes,” the sheriff said, dumping the candy left in his bowl into Stiles’. “Come inside when they’ve left. Goodnight, boys.”

“Goodnight,” Isaac said while Derek just gave the sheriff a stiff nod.

“It’s not like he’s mad at you,” Stiles assured Derek once her father had gone indoors.

“I know, but unlike you I’ve been arrested,” he said, pulling his chair over towards their bench. “Actually, let me correct that, because of you, I’ve been arrested.”

“I was misinformed about the situation,” Stiles said, making a face and Derek shook his head.

“How come you got all the extra candy?” Isaac asked, one candy bar already stuffed into his mouth.

“Cause I’m the sheriff’s daughter, duh,” she said, opening up her first candy bar. “I got dibs on any Reese’s you guys don’t want.”

“Here,” Derek said, sifting through his candy and pulling out the Reese’s he had left and handing them over. She grinned at him.

“What about me?” Isaac asked.

“Isaac, you don’t even like Reese’s,” he said.

“Yeah, but I want you to be nice to me, too.”

“What does being nice have to do with anything?”

“You let her keep your jacket, you give her candy, you don’t even let me touch the Camaro.”

“I don’t let anybody touch the Camaro because I don’t trust you not to wreck it,” he said, then pointed to Stiles. “At least with the jacket on her, it’s less likely to get blood on it.”

Stiles laughed and tried to cough and cover it up. “I probably shouldn’t laugh about that.”

“Probably not,” Isaac said, but he grinned, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about not updating last weekend. I'll try and get the next chapter up this weekend.  
> In any case, this is pretty much it for totally light chapters.


	42. Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the chapter!  
> I've been waiting to write this chapter for like a year.

“That can’t be normal,” Stiles said, gesturing to Cora doing pull ups on a bar in the main room. “Even for werewolves.”

“It’s not like it’s hard,” Cora responded, voice even. “Besides, I’m not doing any sports.”

“I’m not doing it,” Isaac said, shaking his head.

“You should,” Derek said, looking over Cora’s form. “But you don’t have to because you do track.”

“Yes,” he said, holding up his fist in triumph.

The door to the loft opened, but Peter didn’t stand on the other side of the door. A woman and two men stood in the doorway. Stiles looked to the alarm Derek had installed to see it silent and unlit and useless. She turned to Derek, and he motioned them aside. Cora dropped to the floor, and Isaac and Stiles cleared the way for Derek to talk to the alphas.

“Hello, Derek Hale,” the man standing in front said, not taking his sunglasses off. His hands rested on a white cane, but it did nothing to stop the chill running down Stiles’ spine at the sound of his voice.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t gotten your names, only your shitty graffiti,” Derek said, glaring at him.

The man smiled, causing more wrinkles to appear on his face. “The important thing is that you know what we are,” he said, stepping into the room as the other alphas fanned out around him. “But since you’re so curious, my name is Deucalion.”

The other man, much taller and giving Derek a run for his money in muscle mass, moved towards Stiles and Isaac. The woman shifted in the opposite direction towards Cora. Derek alternated watching them.

“What is it you want?” Derek asked, straightforward and with a slight growl.

“Talent, yours specifically, though it is always wonderful to meet one of Talia’s children,” Deucalion said, smiling again at Derek. “We’re just here to talk.”

“And you couldn’t have called like a normal person?”

“We’re as far from ordinary as possible,” he said, tsking Derek. “I had to make sure you understood the gravity of the situation.”

“Then explain,” Derek said, glaring at the woman when she came to close to Cora. She grinned and took a half step back.

“I would very much like to recruit you for my pack, but you’re only of any value to me if you’ve inherited your mother’s abilities,” Deucalion said, seemingly peering down his nose at Derek. “Right now, you haven’t shown any signs of that, really.”

“Then why go to all the trouble?” he spat back.

“There is still a possibility that you will be able to transform fully. Unfortunately, no one knows what triggers it. No one knows how Talia had been able to do it. Horrible to have such knowledge taken from us by hunters,” he said, sighing and shaking his head. “We would have given you time to explore on your own, but we recently learned that we may need to cut out time here short.”

Stiles watched as the other alpha shifted, and she looked past him in the direction he had moved in. A metal pole, probably still left over from Derek and Isaac’s remodeling, rested not far from where she stood with Isaac. She bolted and snatched it up before he could sneak any closer to it. She leapt back to her spot, catching Isaac’s arm for balance, and she could hear her heart beating in her chest as the alpha glowered at her. The entire conversation stopped, watching her and the alpha as she held the pole between them.

Deucalion chuckled then turned back to Derek. “There is a darach in town, one interested in eliminating us for perceived slights. You understand our desire to keep our distance from her.”

“And?” Derek snapped, drawing the other alphas’ attention away from Stiles.

“We need to move up the schedule,” Deucalion answered with a shrug. “We need to test if the trigger is protecting your pack.”

Stiles’ stomach dropped as Deucalion raised his hand and began to walk away.

“Run, get her out of here,” Derek snapped at Isaac as his eyes turned red.

The tall alpha lunged for her, and all of Stiles’ muscle memory had her swinging the metal pole with all her strength. She caught him across the jaw, and she felt the impact in her wrists.

“Let’s go,” Isaac said, tugging Stiles towards the exit before the alpha recovered. She kept hold of the pole as she and Isaac ran past Deucalion.

“Stairs,” she screeched when they made it to the hall outside. She could hear growling behind her. She looked back and saw Cora come sprinting out of the room.

“Move,” she said, catching up with Isaac.

Stiles glanced behind her to see the tall alpha chasing them. He tumbled to the ground, Derek tackling him and ripping up his back.

“Go,” Derek commanded, bringing up the rear.

Stiles heard growling even over the pounding of their feet on the stairs. She choked down air and tried not to trip on Isaac’s heels.

“Stiles,” Derek said, leaning over the railing of the flight of stairs above theirs.

He had his hand held out towards her, and she stopped running to pass the pole over to him. She followed Isaac again, Cora having drawn ahead of them. A terrible screeching yelp echoed through the stairwell, and Stiles swallowed down vomit at the sound of blood hitting the ground. She leaned over the railing and looked up. Derek had driven the pole into the other alpha’s torso and out the other side. He backed the alpha against the railing so the pole went between two of the spindles then bent the pole to weave it between two more, pinning the alpha to the railing like a brooch.

“Go,” Derek bellowed, hopping over the railing to skip a few steps.

Isaac began running again, tugging Stiles after him. Derek caught up to them as the woman screamed, “Ennis!”

Stiles stumbled on a stair, and Derek took hold of her other arm and put a hand on her back. She could smell the blood on him, and it coated his hand.

“Let’s go,” Cora yelled at them, holding the door open for them at the bottom of the stairs.

“What now?” Isaac asked, turning back to them.

“Hope that was enough for their test,” Derek growled, leading Stiles towards the exit.

“And if it’s not?” Cora asked as Stiles pushed open the door and the cold air hit them.

“We keep running,” he said. “We don’t have the numbers to fight multiple alphas.”

“I think they’ve stopped,” Isaac said, head cocked towards the stairs.

“Good,” Derek said with a nod.

Stiles sucked in the evening air and ran a hand through her hair. “What do we do now that they’ve just waltzed right into the apartment?”

“We find somewhere else to live,” Derek said, decided.

“What? We’ve almost finished fixing up the place,” Isaac said.

“You can’t live somewhere that’s been compromised like that,” Cora said, hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms.

“We’re not going to sell it, just finish fixing it up to rent like we planned to from the start,” Derek said.

“Where are we going to live in the meantime?”

“Hotel until we find someplace else.”

“You’re going to need a reason to have stopped living there,” Stiles added, feeling like her brain had returned to her. “I’d say termites, but you want to rent the place. Flooring?”

“Flooring?” Derek asked, turning to her. “I had hoped not to, but I guess we’re going to do it now.”

“And right now?” Isaac asked, turning to look back up at the apartment they had escaped from.

“We get Stiles home.”

Stiles pulled her car keys out of the pocket of the jacket that had been Derek’s. “I guess me wearing it didn’t really protect it from blood.”

Derek pulled his hands off her. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, let’s just get out of here,” she said, heading towards her jeep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it lived up to my expectations.


	43. Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda long. Hope you enjoy.

“I’m good, promise,” Stiles told Isaac as he led the way back into the apartment building she hadn’t been to in a week, the longest stretch she hadn’t visited there in a long time. She hadn’t even lied to him. She had only had three nightmares and no panic attacks since the alpha invasion. Her chest felt too tight every so often, but that really wasn’t much. 

“Can’t believe you guys made it out okay,” Erica said, readjusting her grip on the supplies she was carrying.

“Or didn’t get captured,” Boyd added.

“Well, this time we knew to run like hell,” Cora said.

“Have we thought about how we’re going to get this actually up into the loft?” Stiles asked, pointing at the giant sander Derek and Boyd were carrying between them.

“We’ll figure it out once we get up there,” Derek said.

Isaac had the vacuum that attached to the sander. Erica had the bucket full of everything they needed to fill in any holes or deep scratches in the flooring. Cora had the staining supplies they would need after the sanding. Stiles had masks for the dust and opened all the doors.

“Got dibs on moving furniture,” Erica said, grabbing Cora’s hand and heading for the spiral staircase up to the loft. Cora latched onto Stiles’ jacket which was really still Derek’s. She’d just cleaned off the blood for him.

“Alright, how do we want to do this?” Derek asked Isaac and Boyd.

“Do you think we can just toss the bedding and rugs over the railing?” Erica asked.

“We already took out the bedding,” Cora said and shrugged. “But I say go ahead for the futons and the rugs.”

“You have futons?” Stiles asked, peeking into the bedrooms for the first time. They had already been cleared of anything personal.

“Yeah, the couch kind, they’re awesome,” she answered, smiling. “We should save the frames.”

“Alright, Stiles, you toss the soft stuff over and we’ll pull the heavy furniture out of the bedrooms,” Erica said, clapping her hands together and standing at her full height.

“Oh, I see how it is,” Stiles said, heading into the first room. “You think the human’s a wimp and can’t move furniture.”

“Of course not, Stiles,” Cora said, sounding sympathetic enough for Stiles to side eye her. “We just don’t think you won’t break it when you move it.”

“Rude,” she said, pointing a finger at her. She pulled the bare futon off its frame and tripped with it before she even made it to the doorway. Erica and Cora started laughing.

“Shit!” Isaac said and a loud thud followed.

Erica and Cora laughed harder. Stiles scrambled to her feet. “I got this,” she assured them.

“Of course, just keep moving.”

It took the entire evening just to get most of the furniture and the sander where they were supposed to be. Stiles had to convince them to use a pulley system to move things, and Derek got the physics to work without breaking anything.

“I think I’m dying,” Stiles wheezed once they’d stopped sanding on the second day. She pulled off her mask to chug water.

“Yeah, we’re going to have to wait on the repair and staining work until we finish sanding,” Cora said, looking around at the piles of dust everywhere.

“We should have gotten all of the furniture removed before we did this,” Isaac said, brushing off the back of the couch. Only it and one of the bookshelves remained in the loft as everything else had been moved to storage.

“We can move it, now,” Boyd offered.

Isaac sighed. “Might as well.”

“We bringing the sander down tomorrow?” Erica asked.

“Yeah, best to leave it until tomorrow if we’re getting the furniture out now,” Derek said. 

They finished sanding the day after. “Should we talk to Jennifer?” Stiles asked as she brushed dust off her.

“About what?” Isaac asked.

“We should probably meet her,” Cora interrupted. “We know about her, but we haven’t talked to her. That’s kinda important if we want to work together.”

“We should do it,” Boyd said, nodding.

“I didn’t actually mean about that, but good point,” Stiles said, tilting her head.

“Then what did you mean?” Derek asked.

“Battle plan, I mean, how long do we think it’ll be until the alpha pack comes up with something else to test?”

“Yeah, I thought we were just throwing Jennifer at them,” Isaac said.

“I’m not sure that will work, and we might not be able to get around not fighting them ourselves. Besides, we don’t exactly have the strength of pack she probably wants us to have.”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Derek said, running a hand over his jaw. “We still need to finish up this place first.”

A week later had stain set into the refurbished flooring and paint drying on the walls Derek and Isaac hadn’t been able to get to previously. The loft looked ready to rent and empty, and Derek announced they’d be visiting Jennifer, all of them together.

On the way there, Stiles overheard Isaac ask Erica and Boyd, “Are you guys ready for this? This means you’re joining up with us, right?

Stiles looked over from the front passenger seat to Derek driving. He had his eyes on the road, but there was no way he hadn’t heard.

“Let’s get through this meeting first,” Boyd said with a sigh.

“Here we are,” Stiles announced when they arrived, getting out of the car first.

“Rules of engagement?” Erica asked as they all climbed out.

“Pretend you’re cuter than you are,” Cora said and received an elbow to the side.

“We could use it to counteract any of Derek’s gruffness,” Boyd said.

Stiles shared a look with Derek and Isaac. Erica and Cora smiled though. “I think it was a joke,” Stiles whispered to Isaac.

“You are not as quiet as you think you are,” Derek said, rolling his eyes and putting a hand on her shoulder. They led the way up to Jennifer’s duplex.

“Seems kinda too nice,” Erica said, looking the place over.

“We said that, too,” Isaac said.

Derek rang the doorbell, and Jennifer opened the door after a moment. “Welcome,” she said then looked over the whole group. “Seems like everyone is here this time.”

“Pretty much,” Stiles said.

“Come on,” Jennifer said, motioning for all of them to follow her into the living room. “We have planning to do.”

“Are there more chairs than last time?” Stiles asked Derek.

“Looks like,” Derek said, watching Jennifer take a seat, completely at ease with an entire pack and more in her house.

Derek motioned for everyone to pick seats as he took the spot closest to Jennifer. Stiles and Isaac didn’t hesitate to sit right beside him. The other three took their seats much more cautiously.

“All here, but not quite one whole group,” Jennifer said, pressing her lips together. “Not that I’ve joined either.”

“You can join now if you’re so inclined,” Derek said, tilting his head.

“I will, thank you.”

Stiles dropped her shoulders, and Isaac sighed. Jennifer sat up straight and looked over Erica, Cora, and Boyd. “You were the three kidnapped, correct?”

“Yeah,” Erica answered, frowning.

“I just want to know if you fought them at all,” she said, calm and holding up her hands.

“No, we thought they were friends,” Boyd said, looking at the floor.

“I thought the same,” Cora said, jaw clenched and looking right back at Jennifer.

“And you ran when they came to your apartment,” Jennifer said, shaking her head. “That will make it very difficult to tell how you will do against them in a proper battle.”

“Derek skewered the tall guy,” Stiles added with a shrug. “That’s not bad, right?”

“Yes, but unfortunately, that’s only one of us and one of them. I doubt such a thing is repeatable. These alphas are quite skilled individually, but they’ve also been together for years. I could hold them off before joining you, but not defeat any one of them.”

“And now?” Derek asked.

She sighed. “They’ll be more insistent since you injured one of them. This pack hasn’t been together for nearly as long, but you three; your bonds are strong.”

She looked between the three members of the pack then over to the other three. “Miss Hale, I assume you’ve had some training or practice fighting. I think the three of you would be beneficial to the pack, maybe even to the battle, but I would not want you taking to the front.”

“Why not?” Cora asked, looking to Derek then back to Jennifer. “I’ve got to be worth more than any one of three guys who’ve only been werewolves for a few months, no offense, and Stiles.”

“Hey, I have been very helpful in the past,” Stiles said, holding up a finger.

Isaac elbowed her in the side while Cora rolled her eyes. Jennifer sighed. “Yes, it’s unusual to have two druids, especially to bring to a battle, and you might have talent or skill even, but you’re still not a member of the pack yet.”

“I can be,” she retorted, giving Derek a pointed look.

“Wait,” Stiles said, leaning forward and holding up her hands. “Who’s the second druid?”

“What is a druid?” Erica asked, raising her hand.

Jennifer sighed and both Hales looked at Stiles like she was stupid. She asked, “Have I missed something?”

“You didn’t tell her?” Jennifer asked, looking at Derek.

“I thought she knew. I wasn’t the one to teach her to use mountain ash,” Derek said.

“We need to work on communication,” Stiles said, pointing at Derek.

“I thought you knew.”

“I mean, I usually do, but not this time,” she said, throwing up her hands. “What don’t I know?”

Jennifer leaned towards her. “Mountain ash has its own properties that defend against the supernatural. That’s why hunters can use it, but you haven’t just laid down mountain ash. From what I’ve heard, you’ve created it and have used it as an effective barrier. Only druids can do that. Not to mention being drawn to the supernatural. You managed to befriend a banshee before anyone even knew.”

“Peter knew,” Stiles supplied automatically. “Wait, does this mean me having like a thing for Lydia for years was actually just me being drawn to her supernatural-banshee-ness?”

“It’s not exactly unheard of for young druids to become attached to the first supernatural being they come across,” Jennifer said with a shrug.

“Scott, too,” Derek said, “It’s not just that teen years are the prime time to turn, but also it’s easier to tell who could survive as a werewolf when they’re a teen. You knew he had the potential, and so did Peter.”

“Stiles was also one of the few people who talked to me before I turned,” Boyd added.

“That is so bizarre,” Stiles said, running her hand over her forehead. “How did this happen to me?”

“It’s something you’re born with,” Jennifer said, looking her straight in the eye. “It’s a gift.”

Stiles glanced at Derek before turning back to Jennifer. “Seems like plenty of supernatural stuff is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I've just gotta say that I'm a little off outline. Hopefully, however, I'll be able to stick with the 47 chapter total.


	44. Talks on Uncles

“Hey, Lydia,” Stiles said, catching up to her in the school hallway. “You remember what we talked about with Jennifer?”

“Not here,” she hissed. “At lunch, meet me by the lacrosse field.”

“Really?” she asked, sighing as Lydia walked away from her like she hadn’t spoken. “But it’s cold out.”

Stiles huffed, but at lunch she grabbed Derek’s jacket out of her locker and forced herself outside anyways. She shoved her hands into her pockets and spotted Lydia on the bleachers. Nobody else had come outside, and Stiles took a seat beside her.

“Is this about me being a banshee?” Lydia asked.

“Sort of, we think you might be able to help us out with something.”

“This has something to do with that pack,” she said. “I’m not sure what I can do to help you. I’ve been doing research, but I haven’t tried anything. I don’t think I could bring another werewolf back to life if it got that bad.”

“No, no, no,” Stiles said, holding up her hands. “We’re trying not to have anybody die, except the other guys. We don’t need you anywhere near the line of fire.”

“Then what could you possibly want from me?” she asked, tilting her head. “Between you and Jennifer, you shouldn’t need me for research, and if you don’t need me to bring anyone back, why do you need a banshee?”

“You’re supernatural, and that’s enough. If you join the pack, you become stronger, and all of us become stronger, too.”

“I thought packs were just for werewolves,” she said, frowning.

“At this point, I’m not excluding anything definitively. The important thing about pack is bonds; the stronger the bonds between pack members, the stronger all the individuals in the pack. Our magic, too, I guess,” Stiles explained then shrugged. “I’m not totally sure.”

“Your magic?”

“Yeah, apparently I’m a druid. So if you join, I get more power, so does Jennifer, and so do all the werewolves.”

“Has everybody else joined up?” Lydia asked.

“Yeah, except for you,” she paused. “And Scott, but I don’t think that’s ever happening.”

“I think I’d like to talk to Derek first.”

“Sure, yeah, of course, just, ah, no Allison.”

Lydia gave her a flat look. “Fine, no Allison.”

“You’re going to tell her about it anyways, aren’t you?” 

* * *

 

“Ready?” Stiles asked, looking to Lydia before opening the door to the new apartment the Hales, not including Peter, and Isaac were staying in.

Lydia took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” she said, knocking on the door.

Derek opened it. He looked to Stiles before turning to give Lydia a once over. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve properly met. I’m Derek Hale.”

“Lydia Martin,” she answered, shaking his hand but not returning his smile.

“Come in, and we can talk,” he said, motioning for them to follow him.

Stiles always got the feeling of stepping into a real estate ad whenever she came into the new apartment with the cheap carpet and blinds, but at least the addition of things left out of place or dirty in the sink made it feel more lived in.

Stiles watched as Lydia took in the living room, but she didn’t pass judgment on it. She looked right at Derek. “I know I’m supposed to be here to talk about your pack, but I want to talk about Peter Hale first.”

Stiles gaped at her while Derek frowned. Lydia stood her ground even if her look of fortitude came off looking a little bit like a pout. “Stiles, Cora’s at Erica’s, but Isaac is still here. Go get something to eat,” Derek said, crossing his arms and meeting Lydia’s gaze.

“What? But-,”

“Stiles,” he said quietly. “Please.”

“Okay,” she said, huffing as she went to knock on Isaac’s door and drag him out.

Isaac opened the door before she could knock. “I heard, food time?”

“Yeah, let’s give them a little privacy and get some curly fries.”

“I’m down for that,” he pulled on his coat and followed her back out of the apartment.

Stiles gave Derek one last look as they left, but he kept his attention on Lydia. “We should walk to eat up the time,” she said, moving away from her jeep.

“Fine, you pay then,” Isaac grumbled.

They headed to the nearest fast food joint, and Stiles both them both large fries. She picked seats outside just so she could keep wearing the jacket.

“How long do you think it’s going to be?” he asked, eating his fries one by one.

“I have no idea. Talks about your uncle using both of you to resurrect himself don’t come standard.”

“That’s too bad.”

It took long enough for them to finish their fries and start trying to play sweet and sour at passing cars. Most drivers didn’t even look at them. Stiles felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

“What news?” Isaac asked.

She read the text then turned to Isaac. “Lydia joined the pack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to finish this story.


	45. The Best Laid Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're almost to the end.

“You want this to be done by Christmas?” Derek asked Jennifer, turning away from the windows at the front of her living room.

She nodded. “Yes, I think it’s our best chance to make sure we’re ahead of their schedule. I can’t create a timetable nearly as accurate as I would like due to a number of differences between how their confrontations usually occur.”

“Like stabbing alphas?” Cora asked.

“Yes,” Jennifer said, giving her a flat look.

Erica sighed, and Stiles frowned. “That only gives us like a month to come up with something.”

“Then I suggest we start brain storming.”

Derek rolled his shoulders. “The preserve is probably the best spot. It’s home field advantage for us and keeps us away from anything that might cause any problems.”

“What about the rest of us?” Isaac asked. “I’ve only been out to the preserve a few times.”

“And you’ve mostly trained us in town,” Boyd added, crossing his arms.

“I thought we’d already decided that at the very least Erica and Boyd weren’t going to be on the front lines,” Jennifer told Derek.

“Still here,” Erica pointed out.

“Not on the front lines, but they do still need to be comfortable with the area. They’re still part of the pack, and they’re still back up,” Derek responded.

Stiles raised her hand. “Me and Jennifer can do like booby traps to make up for that.”

Jennifer tilted her head. “It’s a possibility. I thought it would be best if Derek and I went in full offensive, but booby traps could certainly help.”

She curled up her hand. “We can do offensive stuff?”

“That is definitely something we should work on then.”

Isaac leaned towards Stiles. “Guess that means no more martial arts for you.”

She pushed her jaw forward and gave him a flat look. He leaned away again.

“And me?” Cora asked. “If I’m going to be front lines with you, what am I going to do?”

“Hopefully nothing,” Jennifer said with a thin smile.

Derek rolled his eyes and turned to Cora. “If we face them, you go around behind them. If it looks bad, you’ll run and alert Erica and Boyd.”

“And leave you?”

“I could send the signal,” Jennifer suggested.

“Or me, if I learn how, cause I won’t be fighting,” Stiles said, raising her hand again.

“Add that to the list then,” she said.

Stiles put her hand back on her lap. Isaac chuckled, and she punched his shoulder.

“How do we get them to the preserve?” Boyd asked.

“Leaving a message won’t work?” Isaac asked.

“Howling worked pretty well for us,” Erica added with a shrug.

Jennifer shook her head. “That’s a little too obvious. We either send someone for them to chase or we find a way to funnel them through town and trick them into the preserve.”

A knock on the door stopped anyone from responding. They all turned to Jennifer. She sighed, ran a hand through her hair, and walked to the door. Stiles turned to the werewolves around her to see who it was, and she found them all clenching their jaws or frowning. She heard Jennifer’s shoes on the floor and turned to look.

“We have a guest who would like to speak with Derek,” Jennifer said, not smiling at all as she returned to her place.

Alison and Lydia entered the room. Lydia motioned for Alison to step forward, and Alison glanced over to Stiles before doing so. “I’m sorry about all the things I’ve done to you,” she said, looking first at Derek then around to the other werewolves. “I was lied to by my family for years and used by my asshole of a grandfather after my mother…killed herself. That doesn’t excuse the things I decided to do though, and I’m sorry for hurting you. I want to make it up to you.”

She looked around again before taking in a deep breath and straightening her back. “ _Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes_ _._ I changed our code, and my father agreed to it. We want to help you against this alpha pack.”

Derek and Isaac both turned to Stiles, and she ducked her head and scratched the back of her neck.

“Well, I wasn’t here for whatever happened,” Cora said first.

Erica sighed. “I say we go for it. Take their help. I mean, we brought in Stiles.”

“Maybe they can be the ones to lead the alphas to the preserve,” Boyd suggested, receiving a head tilt from Jennifer.

Alison looked over to Isaac. He shifted in his seat, sparing a glance at Derek and Stiles. “I’ll take it, I guess. We’re not going to be friends or anything, but in this instance? I’ll take it.”

She turned to look at Derek head on. He shook his head. “I don’t like it, but hunters could be useful.”

Derek and Isaac looked at Stiles. Alison followed their gazes, and Stiles pointed at herself. “Uh, I’m glad that you’ve seen the error of your ways, and all that. I kinda meant for you to help Lydia, but sure. You can help us try to get rid of a pack of alphas.”

Alison nodded and looked back to Derek. “What’s the plan?” 

* * *

 

Stiles had gotten a ride to Jennifer’s from Derek, and she rode back to their apartment with the Hale siblings and Isaac. Cora gave her a dirty look when they sat together in the back, like it was Stiles’ fault that Derek and Isaac had like a foot of height over both of them.

Stiles got out before Cora, and Derek opened up the apartment for everyone. Cora went straight for the pantry to grab snacks. “I’ll be in my room listening to angsty music, and I do not want to be disturbed.”

Derek nodded. “Thanks.”

“This is for me, not for you,” she said, walking towards her room with her hands full of granola bars and a snack pack.

“You guys have snack packs now?” Stiles asked looking at Isaac.

“I know, he’ll get them for her, but not for me,” he said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

“You get mac and cheese, you’re fine,” Derek told him.

Both werewolves looked towards Cora’s door. Stiles clapped her hands together. “So I guess that means she’s got her music on.”

Isaac nodded.

“Good cause are we really okay with Alison and the hunters being involved in this?”

“We already got Jennifer involved,” Derek said.

“Yeah, but the plan was try and send her after the alphas, just give her a power boost, but now all three of us are on the front line with her,” she pointed out, gesturing between the three of them.

“We could turn tail and leave her there,” Isaac said, tilting his head towards Derek.

“No,” Stiles said as Derek started to nod. “Not if we’ve got hunters involved. We can’t stand that many people up against the alphas and expect them to stay. Jennifer’s got some personal shit, fine, she might stay. The hunters? We might put everything with them back to square one.”

“If they turn against us, either we’ll be strong enough to take them out or the alphas will,” Derek said, crossing his arms.

“The alphas could have a thing against hunters,” Isaac said then turned to Stiles. “We could use them as diversions maybe.”

“Not diversions, they could divert the alphas, but not draw them away entirely,” Derek said. “Their priority is still me.”

“Yes, so if they stick with us we use Jennifer and the hunters to divert the alphas,” Stiles said, tapping the side of her hand against her other palm. “Derek would be our best bet to draw them in unless we get the booby trapping the town part to work. After that, once on the preserve, I guess you’ll just have to just get behind Jennifer and the hunters or run them through as many booby traps as you can.”

“And if the hunters turn?” Isaac asked.

Derek tilted his head. “With two druids, they’ll be easier to kill than the alphas.”

Stiles clenched her jaw shut tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter after this, we'll see how it all wraps up.


	46. Last Resort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally gotten to the end, but I'll probably need to change a tag or two. I'm not at all sorry about how long it is.

Jennifer tilted her head, studying the trap Stiles had just laid down. “It’s adequate.”

She moved on to another area of the preserve to start setting up another magical trap as Stiles sat back on her heels with a sigh. Stiles glanced over to Isaac.  He sent her a questioning look. She gestured to Jennifer’s back and pantomimed rage. He snorted and had to bite down on his laughter.

“Stiles, you’re supposed to watch as I do this,” Jennifer called.

Isaac said, “Ooooh, you’re in trouble.”

Stiles rolled her eyes at him, waving him off. “I got it, I’m coming,” she told Jennifer as she headed towards her.

Derek sighed. “Please, try. This is important.”

“I am taking this so seriously,” she said, tripping over a root because she wasn’t watching her feet. “I am going to be so great at trap making.”

“We still have plenty of offensive magic for you to work on,” Jennifer reminded her as Stiles joined her.

“That can be next,” she suggested and received a glare. “Okay.”

“Now, watch carefully,” Jennifer said as she began to assemble the next trap. They didn’t look like much of anything, but the white wisps of magic Jennifer infused into the material would help immobilize enemies and sap away at their magical strength for Jennifer’s gain. Stiles could only get the immobility to work which was obviously the most important part.

Stiles looked up when she heard the pounding footsteps of running werewolves over forest floor. “Careful,” Derek snapped at them as they came bounding up to the area they had already placed traps.

“We know how to stop, Derek,” Cora said, coming to a halt right in front of him. Erica and Boyd slid on top of the decaying leaves, but didn’t run into any of their prepared traps either.

“Am I going this time?” Isaac asked.

“Yes,” Derek answered.

“Another round already?” Erica asked, leaning back on one leg and placing her hands on her lower back.

“You’re going to make us cover the entire preserve?” Boyd asked Derek.

Derek nodded. “You need to know the lay of the land if you want the advantage.”

“We can take a minute then start off again,” Cora said, grinning as she turned to Isaac.

“Why couldn’t you have taken me out on the preserve earlier?” Isaac asked Derek as he moved over to stand with the other betas. “I wouldn’t have to do all the running now.”

“Hey, you already got out of some of it because of cross country,” Boyd said.

“Stiles,” Jennifer snapped, and Stiles started. “Pay attention.”

“Yeah, I am totally paying attention,” she said, looking back at the trap she was making. Aside from the small wisps that peaked out from the tips of Jennifer’s fingers there wasn’t much to see. She could feel the change in the trap rather than see the magic infusing it. When Stiles worked on the traps, there never was any visible sign of her magic and the presence always felt so much weaker.

“Still feel like there should be words or something,” Stiles muttered.

“You really only need to do that when you lack belief and concentration,” Jennifer admitted, standing and brushing off her hands.

“What do you say?”

“Whatever gets the job done. Sometimes saying it is the only way to get yourself to make it real.”

“How-,”

“Quiet,” Derek said, coming up behind them.

Stiles gave him a look as he stood still with his head turned. He answered, “Footsteps, and not the betas.”

“Hikers?” Jennifer asked.

“No, too fast.”

“They know we’re here. How’d they find out? It’s too early. It just turned December,” Stiles said, feeling her heart starting to speed in her chest as she looked around the forest.

“I don’t know, but they’re coming in fast,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. He leaned down towards her and spoke quietly and quickly. “When you get the opportunity, run and call the hunters.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“We’ll keep them off you, but you can’t stop running even to call. I’ll howl for everyone else to get back.”

She nodded at him with wide eyes before looking away to see Jennifer placing herself in front of the trap she had just set. Derek squeezed her shoulder, and she looked back at him. “Stay here,” he said, and she nodded.

He moved to place himself beside Jennifer and so that Stiles stayed between the two of them, but safely on the opposite side of the trap. The alphas came out of the trees at a walking pace, none of them shifted. Stiles saw the three from the apartment and then a pair of twins. She put her hand into her pocket, getting a grip on her phone.

Deucalion rested his cane in front of him. “Hello again, Derek, Jennifer.”

“Deucalion,” Jennifer responded, raising her head.

“It seems clear to me that having double the druids does nothing to cause a full transformation,” he said. “Stiles, isn’t it?”

“What are you here for?” Derek asked.

“You, of course,” he said, turning to Derek. He sighed and shook his head. “How can you be so willing to fight your own kind after how much we’ve lost to the hunters?”

“You threatened my pack.”

“They’ll only weigh you down in the end,” Deucalion countered. “You could accomplish so much more with us. Really get back at the hunters that killed your family.”

“I already made my choice,” Derek growled back. “Leave, or we’ll make you.”

“You’re welcome to try,” he said, raising his hand to signal the other alphas.

They all shifted, eyes turning red, and Stiles turned and ran away from them as Derek howled. She focused on dodging the traps they’d set out and not listening to the sounds coming from behind her. After clearing the traps, she could work on getting out her phone and not have to worry about hurting herself in the process. Unlocking her phone took too long with her uneven footing and shaking fingers. She pulled up her contacts then looked behind her to see a new alpha, one that looked like the twins bigger and uglier triplet.

She stalled in her running, nearly toppling over. She raised her hand the way Jennifer had taught her only the day before. “Stop,” she yelled at him, visualizing him toppling over backwards.

Something like wind came from her hand, stopping him but not knocking him off his feet. Stiles stared at him, sucking in breath and her hands starting to feel numb. He stepped towards, and Stiles yelped when it looked like he lunged for her, but he fell far short. A black wolf, if wolves were the size of men and not dogs, stood on his back biting at his neck and shoulders.

“Shit,” Stiles screeched; turning and running. She found Allison in her contacts and called.

“Hello?” Allison asked over the line, completely calm and no noise in the background.

“Alphas on the preserve attacking us now, help please,” Stiles yelled at her, checking that alpha wasn’t still following her.

“Where are you on the preserve?” Allison asked, now alert.

“The part where we were setting up traps? I don’t know, I’m running in a direction right now,” she said, nearly tripping on something underneath the leaves. “Thank God for conditioning with werewolves.”

“We’re coming now, hang tight.”

“Great,” Stiles said, hanging up and focusing on running.

Someone grabbed her arm, and she yelped. She looked up to see Isaac.

“Are you okay?” he asked, staring at her hand where she had her phone held up like she was going to hit him with it. She dropped her arm.

“Yeah, yeah, fine, get to Derek.”

He ran, and Stiles watched him for a second. She could see the other three running for the alphas through the sparse trees, the alphas farther ahead of them in the distance. She glanced down at her phone, her contacts still open. She called Scott.

The phone rang as she watched an alpha step into one of Jennifer’s traps. He roared at her, but she bowled him over with invisible wind. Scott picked up his phone.  

“Fucking finally,” she shouted.

“What? What is it?”

“You want a chance to prove yourself to Derek? You got it, here on the preserve. Follow the sounds of the fighting, and hurry.”

Stiles ended the call and watched the unfolding battle. Even with the greater numbers against them, the alphas stayed standing and fighting, routinely throwing back whoever got close enough, toying with them. Jennifer kept a careful distance, blasting them away whenever they got too close but hardly dealing any damage. Stiles put her hand into her other jacket pocket, reaching for the small bag of mountain ash Derek had gifted her with. She squeezed it tight and began to circle around to the side of the fight, looking for a clear spot.

She got as close to center of the dividing lines between the two packs as she could with clear lines of sight to help whoever needed it. She cursed at herself as she tried to make the ash circle around herself, her hands shaking and her attention being pulled away any time she heard one of her pack cry out in pain. “Done,” she told herself as she felt the barrier go up around her.

She turned to the alphas and took several deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She held up her hand again and imagined Allison’s arrow; small and more direct than Jennifer’s broad attacks. She aimed her palm at the alpha closest to her, the one Derek had run through.  

“Fire,” she whispered under her breath, and she saw the magic hit the alpha. He made a motion with his arm, like he could beat the attack away, but didn’t turn towards her. She raised her hand again, and didn’t have to say anything at all as she fired the next shot.

Deucalion howled, and Stiles stumbled back a half step, catching Isaac’s glance before looking back to the howling alpha. His skin turned grey and his face and body twisted as he began to transform.

“And I thought the kanima was ugly,” Stiles said out of shock as Deucalion finished transforming into a creepy gargoyle of an alpha.

The black wolf launched itself at Deucalion, and nearly all the betas took attacks for their distraction. Stiles aimed back at the alphas in response. Jennifer and the alpha she fought began to drift closer to Stiles in their fight, and Stiles focused on him, trying to force her attacks to hurt, and pierce.

Stiles heard the engines of motorized vehicles and looked up across the battlefield to see the Argents roll in on ATVs. “Oh, thank God,” she said as they four of them climbed began to position themselves on the outskirts of the main fighting like she had.

“Focus on the big one,” Chris shouted, and Allison shot her first arrow into the back of the monstrously large alpha.

“No, Deucalion!” Jennifer shouted in response.

“The gargoyle!” Stiles added as the black wolf pounced at him again, going for his neck.

Chris motioned to his men and they began to cautiously shoot around the wolf. Stiles returned her attention to Jennifer’s fight, trying to pick up her pace as Jennifer used more violent attacks.

“Stiles!”

She jumped, looking up to see Scott coming in from a different direction the Argent’s had. “Scott!” she shouted back.

He skirted around the battle, trying to reach her. He ran into her barrier as she shot at the alpha again. “Sorry,” she told him as he rubbed his face.

“What do I need to do?” he asked, eyes focusing on the battle as he quickly shifted.

“Help? I don’t know. We didn’t exactly plan all this.”

“Where’s Derek?”

“I don’t know, he might be the wolf,”

“What?” Scott asked, gaping at the wolf fighting the gargoyle.

“Quit staring and help Isaac or something,” she snapped, firing in anger. This time the alpha whines in pain.

“Nice shot,” Scott said then ran into the fray.

Jennifer stepped into her next attack, and the alpha she hit fell onto his back. He didn’t move to get up again. Stiles’ hands shook as she took in a few shuddery breaths.

“Stiles,” Jennifer snapped, and Stiles looked up. “Help with the twins. I’m taking Deucalion.”

Stiles nodded silently as Jennifer stormed across the battlefield towards the gargoyle and wolf, gathering her power in her hands as she walked. Stiles turned to the giant twin alpha Cora, Scott, and Isaac battled against, ducking and weaving to get around him and land hits without getting batted away. She could see rips in their clothing and blooding seeping from their wounds, but the twins showed no signs of stopping.

Stiles aimed her first shot at his head. He roared, swung harder, and over balanced. Isaac pushed him down towards Scott who slashed at him as he fell. Cora pounced on his back, driving her hands towards his throat. They all paused, waiting for him to throw her off. Instead, the twins split apart, and Cora stumbled off of them. Cora nodded to Stiles, and Stiles didn’t know what to do in response.

Isaac moved towards Duecalion and Cora gestured towards where Boyd and Erica were fighting the sole female alpha. Scott and Cora moved in, and Stiles decided to take aim at her as well. She moved faster than the large twins, ducking and spinning out of the way of the attacks. Stiles’ aimed for her core and struck her in the torso. It threw off her rhythm, and Boyd landed a solid punch that Erica followed up on. Scott kicked at her legs, and Cora lunged at her throat.

Erica and Boyd shared a look, and Scott glanced over to Stiles. She stared back with her hand still half raised. Deucalion howled again, drawing their attention away from the downed alpha.

The black wolf lunged at Deucalion, latching onto his throat. Isaac grabbed onto Deucalion’s arm as he reached to pull the wolf off of him. Jennifer took a step forward, but Cora ran in front of her, grabbing Deucalion’s other arm. The hunters stopped firing as Cora and Isaac struggled to hold Deucalion down.

Jennifer raised her hand, and her magic left her hand with a vibrant white light and a thundering crack. Deucalion’s head lolled back, and he stopped resisting. The wolf, Isaac, and Cora let him go, and the wolf continued to growl as his body fell backwards onto the ground.

“There’s no coming back from that,” Jennifer said, lowering her hand.

The hunters started up a cheer. They hooted and hollered, and Stiles stared at the bodies lying on the ground. That had been the only option and it felt like too much and too final. She wiped her hands off on her pants and kicked apart the barrier. The others were brushing themselves off, gathering towards the center of what had been the battlefield, and staring at the hunters around them in awe. The wolf whined and pushed his way into their group while Jennifer kept a wary distance.

One of the hunters left the group, and when Stiles recognized them as Allison, she began to move to meet her. She received pats on her back and shoulders as she moved through the group towards Allison. “Where’s Derek?” Allison asked, looking around trying to spot him.

“Uh, we’re thinking he’s a wolf right now,” Stiles said as the wolf pushed his way over to her side. He pushed his nose, still wet with blood, against her hand, but she didn’t pull away. He looked at Allison and yipped at her.

“I don’t know what that means,” she said, sounding annoyed. “When he’s back to normal, tell him to contact me. For now, we’ll clear out, give you guys some space.”

“Thanks,” Stiles said, meaning it.

Allison nodded, looking them all over once more, and turned around to head back to her own group.

“Their plan worked after all,” Jennifer said, moving around the group to study the wolf.

“So this is really him?” Stiles asked. The wolf growled and shook himself out.

“How do we turn him back?” Cora asked.

“I have no idea,” Jennifer admitted. “No idea how he did it so I guess he’ll have to work out for himself how to get back out of it.”

“Quick question, yeah, um, what happened with all his clothes?” Isaac asked.

“Uh, I think I saw them all ripped up on the ground over there,” Erica said, gesturing in the direction of Deucalion’s body.

“Oh god,” Cora said, covering her face with her arm as her hands were covered in blood. “I’m not dealing with him naked.”

“Stiles can deal with him,” Isaac suggested.

“No, she can’t,” Stiles said.

“Don’t you still have his jacket?” Boyd asked.

“He needs pants not a jacket.”

“He could hold it,” Isaac said, shrugging. 

Stiles looked him over, wondering if he’d gotten a concussion during the fighting.

Isaac continued. “Once he had hands, he could.”

“Just take him back home to transform there,” Jennifer said with a sigh. “He’ll have pants there.”

“But we took his Camaro to get here,” Isaac said.

“I drove here so I can take some people,” Scott said.

“Great, so I can take somebody, Scott can take the rest, and Jennifer can go straight back to her own place,” Stiles said, giving Jennifer a weak grin.

“Don’t think I won’t finish teaching you the basics,” Jennifer said. “But for tonight, it’s probably best if we go our separate ways to recover.”

“Great,” Stiles said. “What do we do about the bodies?”

“I have that covered,” Jennifer said, smiling. “Don’t worry.”

“And I think that means it’s time for us to leave,” Stiles said, turning on her heel and heading for the edge of the preserve where she’d parked.

“What happens if Derek never turns back?” Erica asked.

“Don’t say that,” Cora complained. “I can’t have a wolf as a legal guardian.”

“Let’s worry about that some other time, please?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, let’s just get home.”

Night fell as they made their way out of the forest. Stiles stayed in the lead, shooting glances at Derek every few feet to make sure he hadn’t run off. He stuck close to her side and showed no sides of returning to human form. She sighed and plowed ahead, eventually having to pull out her phone to use as a flashlight so she wouldn’t trip and kill herself after all that alpha pack crap.

“Oh, you parked behind me,” she told Scott as they made it out of the woods to the car.

“More like I just slammed on the breaks wherever was convenient,” he confessed.

“Considering there aren’t actually any parking spots here I think you’re okay,” she said, even though his mom’s car was completely crooked behind her jeep. “Who’s riding with me?”

Derek trotted to the jeep and sat down in front of the passenger side door.

“Okay,” Stiles said, pulling out her keys. “I guess I’m taking Derek.”

“You are the one who needs the most protection out of all of us,” Cora said with a shrug, brushing past Stiles on her way to Scott’s car.

“But we don’t have the alphas to worry about anymore, and I have magic to shoot people with,” Stiles said, holding up her hands. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Have fun with that argument with Derek when he’s human again,” Isaac told her, patting her on the shoulder.

“I’ll follow you?” Scott asked her. “I have no idea where we’re going.”

“Yeah, just get out from behind the jeep, and I’ll lead the way,” she said, waving him off as she opened the passenger door of the jeep for Derek. He climbed up into the seat, panting with his tongue lolling out like he was just some dog and not a massive wolf. Stiles made a face at him then shut the door. She got into the driver’s seat as the rest of the group argued about seating in Scott’s car.

Once Scott finally pulled out of her way, she led him back to Derek’s new apartment. Derek watched out the front windshield during the drive, and she hoped he wasn’t judging her driving skills. She’s saved his life with her driving before so he had no right to judge her now.

She had to let him out again when they reached the apartment, and he still showed no signs of changing back. Scott parked beside her and everyone started piling out of his car.

“Should I stick around?” Scott asked.

Derek growled at him before padding over to the front entrance of the apartment building.

“I guess not,” Scott said, readjusting his hold on his keys.

“I’ll text you updates,” Stiles promised.

“Thanks, I’ll see you later,” he said before climbing back into his car.

“C’mon Stiles,” Isaac called out as he held the door to the apartment open.

“Coming,” she said, making sure her jeep was locked before jogging over to him.

“Think Derek will shift back if we get him to his room?” he asked.

She shrugged. “No idea, maybe.”

“Worth a shot.”

Cora let everyone into the apartment, and Derek set about sniffing around the place. He found the door to his room quickly enough, and Isaac opened the door for him. He left the door opened a crack so Derek could get back out if he wanted while still in his wolf form.

“I think we’re going to head back home,” Erica said, gesturing to Boyd. “It’ll be nice to spend a night at home without having to worry about the alpha pack.”

“Finally,” Boyd added.

“You deserve it,” Stiles said. “I’ll text you when Derek’s back to human.”

“You gonna hang out here until then?” Cora asked, the usual Hale level of snark returned to her tone.

“Uh, well it’s not like it’s that late. I can stay for a while still.”

“Whatever,” she said, waving her off.

“See you later,” Erica said as she and Boyd headed back out of the apartment.

“Now what?” Isaac asked, taking a seat on the couch.

“We wait,” Cora said. “I’ll call for pizza.”

“Great,” Stiles said, sitting down beside Isaac.

Cora dialed for pizza delivery, and the door to Derek’s bedroom creaked open. Stiles and Isaac leaned forward to try and see through the doorway. Derek stepped out in sweatpants and while struggling to get a shirt on. “It’s a lot easier to adjust to a wolf than to come back to human,” he groused as he got the shirt over his head.

He still had some blood left over on it skin from the fight, but he didn’t have any open wounds from what Stiles could see of him. Stiles stood up from the couch. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah,” Derek said, straightening out his shirt and walking towards her. “And you?”

“Oh, I’m totally fine, great even, I was so far from the actual fighting.”

“You still got blood on you,” he said, and holding up the hand he had nosed at earlier and had left smears of blood on.

“That was your fault, actually, again,” Stiles reminded him.

“Sorry,” he said, running his thumb over her skin so it brushed off the caked off blood.

Isaac cleared his throat, “Do I need to leave?”

“No,” Stiles said, shaking her head and pulling her hand away even when it was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Pizza should be here soon,” Cora said, giving them all a weird look as she joined them.

“You got pizza?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, is there a problem?” she asked.

Derek shook his head.

“I’m sticking around for the pizza,” Stiles said, sitting back down on the couch.

“When don’t you?” Isaac asked.

“Hey, our friendship is based entirely around pizza.”

“But I thought what we had was special,” Isaac said, grinning at her like the dick he was.

“Yeah only cause I don’t have to pay for this pizza.”

“Shut up,” Cora said, dropping into the seat across from them.

“Wash your hands before the pizza gets here,” Derek ordered.

“Oh yeah, cause germs are what’re gonna get us after all that,” Isaac said.

“You want werewolf blood on your pizza?”

“Alright, I’m washing,” he said, getting up to take his turn with the sink first.

Everyone was clean by the time pizza arrived. Stiles kept catching herself double check that Derek was still there and in human form. She assured herself that it was okay to do that because she caught both Cora and Isaac doing it too.

“I’m not going to blink out of existence if you stop looking at me,” Derek said when he paid for the pizza and turned around to find that they’d all followed him to the door.

“Yeah, but what if you turn into a wolf again, and you run away?” Stiles asked, squinting at him. “Hm, what then?”

Derek sighed, muscling past them to set the pizza down on the table. “I’m still me even when I’m a wolf. I don’t forget everything, I just remember it differently.”

“So how do you shift?” Cora asked, already starting on her first slice of pizza.

Derek gave her a flat look about her manners when eating that she ignored. “You think I need it. You can’t just want it. It has to be more than that.”

“Makes sense with all the other magic stuff I’ve heard about it,” Stiles said, nodding. “That’s like what I had to do to get the mountain ash to work the first time.”

“And coming back?” Isaac asked. “What do you think then? I really need thumbs?”

“I’m not sure. Remembering what I was thinking of as a wolf is weird,” Derek said, shaking his head.

“We don’t need to worry about that anymore,” Cora said. “Alpha pack is gone, it’s time to eat our celebratory pizza.”

“Here, here,” Isaac said, grabbing another slice of pizza and taking a seat.

Nobody talked much as they ate. They plowed their way through the pizza, slouching lower and lower in their chairs as the anxiety the alpha pack had forced on them slowly drifted away. It was over. The celebration was subdued, but Stiles couldn’t think of anything better that had happened to her since Scott had been bitten. She hoped more than anything this break would last.

When she couldn’t eat anymore, she wiped her hands off on a napkin then stood up. “I think I’m gonna head home.”

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Derek said, wiping off his hands and getting up as well.

Stiles gave him a weird look, but Cora and Isaac didn’t think anything of it, just giving Stiles their goodbyes. She nodded and let him follow her out of the apartment.

Derek shut and locked the door behind them. “I don’t think you need a babysitter.”

“What? Who said that?” she asked, snorting.

“You did. I remember you saying something like that when I was a wolf.”

“Did I?” she asked, and he nodded. “Well, I don’t.”

“I know, but you’re still young.”

“I’m older than Isaac.”

“By what? A month?” he asked, looking amused but not wanting to be.

“It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?”

Derek shook his head slowly. “Not really.”

“Uh, why wouldn’t it be?” she asked, cause really that one month would be enough to legally drink before him.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” he said. “Besides, you’re also human.”

“Yeah, but I can defend myself. I definitely proved that,” she said, grinning and slugging him in the shoulder.

He looked back at her with a slight smile. “You were good.”

“Thank you.”

“Most of the humans in the Hale pack haven’t been druids, just family,” Derek said. “You’re nowhere near fully trained to be a druid either. You don’t need a babysitter, but I do want to look out for you.”

“Uh, you’re the alpha. Pretty sure you’re supposed to want to look out for your pack,” she said, staring at him with some confusion.

Derek smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they exited the building. “You’re smart, Stiles. I’m also sure you’ll tell me what you think.”

She pressed as close to his side as she through he’d let her get away with. “Think about what?”

“You’ll figure it out,” he said, letting her go when they reached her car. “Drive safe.”

“I will, see you,” she said then got into her car.

She roller his words around in her head until she got home. She had a pretty good idea of what he meant by the time she got home, and she could feel the anxiety building in her stomach as she went up to her bedroom, hoping she was right about her hunch.

She texted him **Are you saying that you like me?**

He didn’t text back immediately, and she started chewing on her nails.

 **I care about you, but you’re a member of this pack first** he texted back.

 **Im not old enough for you**.

She felt a lot of bitterness well up in her throat. She knew what she looked like, too lanky and nowhere close to being filled out. She didn’t dress as nice as Allison or Lydia, and she couldn’t move with any sort of grace like Jennifer could. She was horribly aware of what a kid she was no matter how much she tried to help or act smart and mature. Derek only had a few years over her, but he wasn’t anything like a teenager.

 **You know what happened with Kate**.

She sighed, releasing all the bitterness because she knew what the real problem was. Derek had even told her himself, not every detail, but Stiles had a pretty good idea of what happened. Derek could never do that to her, and that he worried he could removed any doubts she had about him liking her. She knew the stories of older men dating younger girls, and she had been disgusted by all of those men, but Derek wasn’t one of them. He treated her like an equal.

 **Then we come back to it in a yr or two we talk again** , she suggested.

 **Deal**.

She sighed, relieved. They had time now. They didn’t have death hanging over their heads. They wouldn’t even really be waiting, she figured. They could still spend time together without having to worry about this getting in the way and have time to figure out if this is really what they wanted. Stiles figured they were in a pretty good space.

She still sent Derek a kissy face emoji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, and I'm considering reorganizing the chapters so there aren't quite so many of them.


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